Pretear: Prince of Light!
by Bitter Ambrosia
Summary: The title says it all.
1. Introduction

Imagine if the balance of Leafe was shifted. The Knights are no longer male, and the Pretear is no longer female. The Legendary Knights, the ones who served with Himeno, are older, and no longer can feel changes in their respective areas of Leafe. Two new Knights have joined into the fray, because the shift in Leafe is so great. Who will be the Prince Pretear? And who will be his enemy? Read on to find out, for this story has many twists and turns.


	2. Chapter 1

Megumi sat up in his bed, looking at the clock. He would still be reasonably early for work, and he had things to do before that. Grinning a little bit to himself, he stood and started to get ready for the day. First went on a black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, then a black short sleeved trench coat and grabbed his black gloves before stepping outside. Looking up at the sky, he held a hand up and then closed it in a fist. Smiling a little evilly as a red snow started to fall, he stepped off his front porch and started to make his way towards work, the internet-gaming company where he was in charge of a small group of people.

Kay sighed as she started to make her way through the town. So, it was finally going to happen. The oldest of all the Knights, she had seen this coming for a long time. Why else had they been awoken slowly over the years? The youngest, Setsuna, otherwise known as Bubbles, had come to them only two years ago, and her friend, Rin, had been only a year before that. As far as Kay could tell, neither a Knight of Time, nor a Knight of Shadow has ever existed before. It must be that they were going to be needed for these battles, and that these battles would be fierce. Maybe it was because they wouldn't find the Pretear, or that they would somehow lose him. Grey clouds started to roll in and it started to rain as her mood grew darker and darker. They wouldn't find the Pretear, and she would not let them look for him. They didn't need him. Hugging herself, Kay started the long walk to work in the rain, not realizing that it was raining, and getting soaking wet. By the time she arrived, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining again, but she wasn't as cheerful as the weather showed. Kei, sitting in his usual cubicle and day dreaming about a woman named Serena, looked up as she came in. He didn't understand why he felt this unusual affinity for her, but he did feel that he should take care of her. Little did the former Knight of Light realize that this was the Knight that had taken his spot. Nor did Kay know that this man that she affectionately called uncle, for reasons that she did not understand, was the former Knight of Light. Neither knew that something had happened to switch everything around, and that now a new battle was to be fought. Outside, the red snow began to fall...

Rin was walking around the city, arm in arm with Bubbles. A wide smile was on her face, but as soon as it started to rain, she squealed and dragged Bubbles under a nearby gazebo, giggling. Realizing what the rain might mean though, the perkiness bled away a little.

"I hope that Kay-Kay is okay!" Rin chirped, looking at Bubbles worriedly before looking up at the sky. As soon as the rain stopped, Rin dragged Bubbles back outside to start to jump around in the puddles. As soon as the red snow started to fall though, Rin grew serious, turning to look at Bubbles. "We need to go let the others know. Kay might not want to find him, but we DO need the Pretear." With that, she disappeared, a depth of shadow taking her back to Leafeania.

Bubbles was giggling happily as they starteed to play in the puddles. She deserved her nickname and was rather found of it really. She even had gone as far as to dye her hair pink once- but then she got bored of it, and died it back to the usual creme blond... though now it was a pinkish blond instead. Went the red snow started to fall she zipped back under the gazebo, staring up at the sky with a sober expression- something that was rarely ever seen there. She nodded to Rin.

"I'll let those of us that are here already know." she told her Bestest friend, watching her vanish. She then vanished herself in a swirl of gray and white light. She reappeared outside of Kay's work and let herself into the cubicle Kay worked at. "KAY! Big trouble!" she exclaimed- glomp attacking the girl from behind. She smiled over at Kei. "Hi hi!" she greeted cheerfully before looking back at Kay with a comically furrowed expression. "Have you seen what it's doing outside? The snow! it's red!"

Akira sat in a cafe with her sister, Akana, sipping tea. As usual the twins were gaining a lot of attention from other customers. THey were both slender and pale. With dark green/blue eyes and long dark hair. Akira tended to keep her hair back in a ponytail with a lavender ribbon while Akana wore it in a half braid with a blue ribbon. As was the usual as well Akana chatted about this and that while Akira sat quietly, listening to her sister with an occational smile or comment. Sighing she looked outside and then shot up to her feet.

"Geh! Akira! What was that-?" Akana started to demand before she looked outside to and saw the red snow.

"So it begins." the murmured in unison. "We'd better meet up with the others." Akira whispered, settind down some money for their tea and the two made their way to the back alley. Once they were sure no one was around the vanished. Akana in blue light and Akira in a soft lavender light.

Kyo laughed as he pushed open the door, holding it for the girls that were leaving the class behind him. "No, I'm serious! that was the first time I'd ever used a bow."

"I can't believe this Kyo! Your so good at every sport! Archery teams asked you to help, the soccer team, the baseball team. And you're already a member of the Karate team AND the Kendo team. Pratically everyone likes you! I'm so jealous!"

Kyo laughed again and slapped the other guy on the back. "It was beginners luck that's all."

"Three near bulleyes in a row is not beginners luck. It's a gift! A natural gift!"

"Well that's about the only think I am good 've seen the grades I get." Kyo shuttered. "Why do they have to makes the classes so long! I can't even pay attention. I get soo bored!"

THe others that were grouped around him laughed. "That's just because you're like a 5 year old in that aspect."

"Aw come on! I'm 20 years old! 4 times that age. Can't you say like- 10. I mean that way it would only be half my age."

Again everyone laughed. Kyo had a natural way with people and sports. He was well like by just about he whole school that's to his simple minded, easy-going, bright personality. That along with his good looks and physical skill he was practically an idol of the college.

"Wow... guys look! Snow!" someone called, pointing at the sky. Everyone looked up to see snow falling. Red snow.

Kyo started to look around. "Is someone mixing food coloring in a snow marker or something?" he asked, getting chuckles from thoses around him. He grined, reaching up to catch a piece of the snow, eager as everyone else to see the phenomenon. But as soon as the snow touched his hand, he felt drained. He was simple, and because of that he tended to go with whatever he gut told him. And right now it was telling him to get out of the snow.

"Guys come on. Let's go inside." he called, heading inside already. He glanced to the side where snow was falling on the grass and froze. The grass was dying as the snow fell. "Guys!" he called agian. "Get out of the snow! Look what it's doing to the grass!"

The group had mostly stayed to stare at the sky until his second call.

"What the-" several approached the snow, but more were now following Kyo inside.

Kay blinked and looked at Bubbles, completely focused on her, not realizing that Kei had been speaking to her. She then looked outside and realized that Bubbles was indeed telling the truth.

"Get back to the other girls now. I will follow shortly after," she said. She turned to Kei and gave him an apologetic smile, hoping that he hadn't heard the conversation. He had only heard the bit about the red snow and was worried, but that was blown from his mind when Kay said that she was leaving.

"Now I have to do all the work!" he complained, just as Kay left down the stairs. She missed Megumi, who had come up in the elevator, and stepped into the office.

"Where is Kay?" he asked, his rich voice just barely bordering on annoyed. Kei flinched and smiled nervously.

"She's taking a sick day," he said, and Megumi nodded, not really annoyed anymore. The girl tended not to take any time off, and if she took a sick day, then who cared? Kei gave a sigh of relief as Megumi walked away and then set to work.

Kay went to the college and grabbed Titania, Ariel, and Snow to take them back to Leafeania. The Knights of Plants, Water, and Ice weren't to happy to be taken from their classes, but when they saw the red snow, they understood. They went to the ladies bathroom and disappeared in a flash of green, aqua, and white light respectively. Kay kept watch and noticed the group of people coming inside, so she peeked in and made sure that the three girls were gone, but acted as if she was backing out of the bathroom and wiping clean hands on her clean suit. She backed into the male who seemed to be leading the group and turned around to apologize, her hand accidentally making contact with his hand. A static shock made her jump back from him, a look of horror on her face.

"Gods, why...?" she muttered. Then she ran from him, and out the front door, stepping to the side and disappearing in a flash of amber light. The light was darker than it had been earlier that morning when it had appeared golden when she had disappeared from Leafeania to the human world. Now she disappeared away from the human world to Leafeania and outside their home in the tree. Looking at her hand and scowling, she composed herself and went inside, just in time to hear Rin exclaiming that they needed the Pretear.

"I'm telling you, the Pretear is the only way that we can defeat this! I feel a deeper darkness within the shadows than I think Kay realizes there is. I don't care what she says, we need the Pretear!" Rin said, all bubblyness set aside. She was completely serious and hadn't realized that Kay had walked in. Kay, every time she heard the word Pretear, flinched, and then slammed her fist into the wall after Rin was done.

"I said no Pretear, I mean no Pretear!" she shouted, but as her amber eyes flashed darker and the thunder began to rumble ominously outside, she felt a weakening in her realm in the human world. "The light!" she gasped as she disappeared from Leafeania, the golden light still amber in colour rather than gold, and appearing where she felt the Leafe draining from her realm. Seeing in a corner the male that had had the proper reaction to her from earlier, she cursed and a flash of lightning landed just inches from him. Just then, the rest of the Leafe Knights appeared. Cursing again, Kay whirled and started to leave the room and then realized that she couldn't because there was a massive demon larvae blocking the doorway. "Dammit dammit dammit!" she shrieked. Dashing to the male's side, she grabbed his hand, without explaining anything, and just preted with him.

Bubbles had seen Kay come in but stayed quiet. Trying to inerupt would do no good. She was also serious for the moment. When Kay made her 'ultimatum' she flinched slight.

"She went away..." she commented when Kay vanished, and followed the others lead as they went to find Kay and the demon Larvae.

Kyo drew his hand back, suprised by the shock and looked up, preparing to make a joke about it to the girl. But she looked... horrified... so he didn't say anything. And then she ran outside.

"Hey! Wait you shouldn't-" Kyo had chased after her and stopped when he rounded the corner to find her gone. "What the..." he looked around for a moment before going back inside, out of the snow. He asked his friends to make rounds around the building to let others know to stay indoors. He entered one classroom that was empty when he felt something odd about the room. Like an ominous feeling. Going over to the window he looked outside.

The door opened behind him and he turned, to see the girl from before. And then he noticed something else... it was some sort of strange moster and-

"MEEP!" He yelped, jumping away and lighting stuck just the other side of the window from him. His startled pose was the type of thing most people would crack up to see him do. But then agian- Kyo had a tendance to make people laugh quite often.

She ran over to him suddenly, cursing, and grapped his hand... and then... there was a light around him, a warmth... and she was gone. He looked at his hand, that she had touched, and noticed the cuff of a suit. he followed the cuff up his arm, to his chest, then down to his shoes. How the hell had he gotten a wierd goldish suit on without even knowing it? He felt something on his head and touched it. It was some sort of little crown. Feeling more confused that he had know was possible Kyo stared, dumbfounded at the moster that was before him.

"EH?"

"Damn shit fuck shit bitch mother fucker fuck fuck fucking fuck...!" came a constant hiss from the back of Kyo's mind. Kay was busy cussing her heart out, then took control of herself and looked at the situation. Having actually been trying to through the male out the window before the others could tell he was the Pretear, she had unintentionally preted with him instead. Hissing curses to herself once again, she looked at what was happening. The others were just staring, dumbfounded, at an act that had appeared as if she had entirely lost her resolve against having the Pretear. "DAMMIT!" she shouted in the back of Kyo's mind, triggering a startled flurry of thoughts from the male. Controlling herself once again, she started to speak with him. "Okay, Kyo, your name is it? you have to listen to me if you are to survive. I am Kay, and yes, I am the girl that just disappeared on you. I have preted with you, and am now inside your body." Not waiting for a reaction, she plowed on, dashing his thoughts. "I'm the Knight of Light. You need to use my weapon so that that creature is killed."

A flurry of thoughts cut her off, and she was forced to reorganize her own.

"Dammit Kyo, Stop thinking!" she finally shouted, which triggered an avalanche of thoughts. Growling, she turned just in time to see the creature fling a limb in their direction. "Watch out!" she screamed, and the angered and annoyed scream turned into a harsh yell of agony as Kyo was thrown into the wall by the flailing limb. Weakly, Kay seemed to be panting, and she spoke to Kyo again. "When you get hit, we take the damage asshole..." she panted, and although her voice was weaker, it still seemed to have all of its bite. Looking around again. she saw the creature advancing on the valiantly fighting group of Knights, all of them trying to protect Kyo and Kay. "Call the Light Mace," she growled. Then, when a random thought came skittering by about what in the world that would do, Kay yelled at him. "JUST CALL THE DAMN THING!" she shouted. She thoroughly hated the situation and wanted just to unprete from him and be away from him already. She felt more than heard a squeak and a jump, then saw another flailing limb come at them again. "Hurry up! Call it and find the core of the monster and kill it! And DODGE!" Another cry of agony went through Kyo's head as Kay once again took the damage.

Rin looked over at Kyo worriedly.

"I hope that Kay-kay is okay..." she whimpered, looking back at Bubbles. "That boy looks like he's been hit about three times already... He must not be very athletic, huh...?"

So much was happening all at once and Kyo could hardly wrap his head around it. It was all so... surreal. With an almost pithetic sigh he picked himself up.

"Light Mace!" he called, and felt weight suddenly in his right hand. He looked down and saw a glowing mideval looking mace. "How the hell do i- AGH! Whatever I just have to dodge and somehow hit that thing with this right?" he asked. 'Those girls are getting hurt because I'm just standing her. And apparently the one he was 'preted' with was already hurt taking hits for him. Another tenticle swiped out at him. he jumped, back flipping over the limb and then sumersulted under another. "How do I find the core thingy you were talking about?" he asked, taking an experimental swing with the mace at a tenticle. 'okay so the staff it only a direction control. I can minipulate how the ball with move by adjusting the swing.' There was another flurry of curses.

'You're the pretear damn it! you's suppose to be able to see it!'

He winced, the screaming and cursing was starting to hurt his head. Again he took another swing, this time having swirled the chain so it stuck up under a tenticle that was aimed at him. He jumped up agian, this time, going for the main body.

'Hey is that the core?" he asked, seeing a spot of light in the beast main body. there was another flow of curses and insults that equated to a 'yes' sort of answer. "So i just hit that thing right?" he swung again, shifting his angle- and smasheda light that was over head. Distracted, Kyo looked up to see a light swinging from one cable- before getting slammed into another wall by a tenticle. "I'm Sorry!" he told Kay, hearing her cry out in pain again. The moster advanged on them, the light over head snapped from the impact of a tenticle, and smashed down into it's body and into it's core, breaking it. There was some kind of sheik from the monster before it stopped moving, and then vanished. "Eh?" Kyo was once agian horridy confused. "What just happened?"

Kay just ignored his confused jumble of thoughts and unpreted from him, his form shimmering as she left him, appearing right beside him. Her injuries were bleeding heavily as she leaned against the wall, struggling to stand up straight. Her thoughts were a solid stream of pained curses, and she staggered away from the group a little, shooting glares at whomever came close to see if she was okay. Glaring at Kyo, her fury all centered on him, she looked then at the others.

"I told you that I didn't want a fucking Pretear..." she growled, and she disappeared in a flash of deep amber light. Rin just looked shocked for a moment before going to fuss over Kyo.

"Sorry Kyo! Kay-kay is just a little grumpy almost all the time. She'll come around! I promise it'll get better. You just gotta get better at dodging and stuff. Kay-kay looked pretty badly wounded..." Rin added mournfully. Looking at the others, she blinked, realizing that only she and Bubbles remained with the new Pretear. "We will be back later to explain it all. We'll make Kay come too. She needs to apologize for making your ears bleed."

Megumi clenched a fist as a phantom pain shot through his heart. So, a Pretear had been found then? Megumi grinned. The man who was his opponent must be powerful indeed to have been found so quickly.

Kay struggled to stay upright as she appeared in Leafeania, and only succeeded in crashing to the floor as the loss of blood started to get to her. She groaned in pain as her blood pooled beneath her, only to disappear as the tree house cleaned itself up. Slowly she was starting to heal, the Leafe of the place seeping into her body and knitting her wounds back together.

"Kay, you should give him a chance," Titania said, the Knight of Plants stooping to help Kay up. Kay scowled at her, but the light footed young girl did not stop giving Kay a stern look. Just then, Bubbles and Rin showed up, holding hands as they were wont to do.

"I told Kyo that you would go to explain to him later with us, and to apologize for being so mean," Rin said with a grin.

"You did what?" Kay nearly shrieked, but managed to keep her volume down. In the human world, thunder rolled ominously and lightning began to flash. Rin came over to Kay and pinched her, and Kay looked at her incredulously.

"You'll do it. Whether you want one or not, Kyo is the Pretear and he deserves both an explanation and an apology," Rin scolded. Kay looked at her in astonishment.

"I don't think I've ever seen you so serious. Fine, I will. But just know that I still don't want a Pretear." Finally able to stand, Kay turned to the others and scowled. "Just leave me alone to heal for a while..." she muttered at their confused stares. A dull pain, one from the wounds and from a scar from long ago, seemed to echo in her amber eyes, and she stalked away to her room with a sigh.

Bubbles giggled.

"Bye bye Kyo-yo!" she waved vanishing with Rin. Akira glanced at her twin. They could both tell that this was going to be difficult with Kay.

"still... he did terrible the first half of the fight... but he was actually pretty good the second time... minus the lack of ability with a weapon. We're just lucky that light fell on the demon Larvea."

Kyo sat on the floor of the room, stunned. When he could finally move again he ran home.

"MOM! Mom! I think i'm either going crazy or something seriously wierd, crazy, and cool happened to me today! There was this weird red snow, and then this monstedr showed up at school, and then these girls showed up and one of the did this thing called 'preting' with me and I got this cool tux with a light mace and i was told i was the pretear and the girl was inside me and i had to fight the demon and i finally beat it but he girl- her name was kay i thing- she got really hurt somehow and why are you looking at me like that mom?" he said all of this pretty much in one breath.

Himeno was giving Kyo the most incredulous look that she could muster. How was her son the Pretear? She looked into the living room and called her husband.

"HAYATE!" she shouted. He came into the room and looked at her and then at Kyo.

"What happened?" he asked her, concern and protectiveness edging his voice.

"Kyo says that there are female Leafe Knights and that he is the Pretear," Himeno said. She was completely ignoring their son now. Hayate gaped for a few seconds before disappearing in a flash of blue light, and then showed up in Leafeania. He ran to the treehouse that he and his friends had inhabited during their brief stint as Leafe Kngihts, and stopped short as the wreck that he expected was not there.

"Oh geez..." he muttered, and entered the house to find Rin fussing over Kay's wounds while the latter growled at the former about how she didn't need help. "How in the world...?" Hayate muttered, and stopped short when nine females turned to regard him. Kay stood, and although a little unsteady, it was clear that the Knight of Light was the one in charge this time around.

"Who are you and why are you here?" she asked, immediately in protective mode, not about to let her friends and sisters get anywhere near the man. The man shrugged and sat down.

"I am Hayate, the original Leafe Knight of Wind," he said simply. Kay nearly fell over from the shock, which caused a flurry of protests to come from Rin. One of the Legendary Knights was here? She didn't know what to say, so she merely nodded her head to him.

"Um... Sorry... But if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?" she asked timidly. Rin gave her a surprised look, as did the other girls. Hayate smiled and came over to Kay, patting her shoulder gently so as not to hurt her.

"My son is your Pretear," he said. Kay immediately started to glare, and she stormed off, slamming the door to her room behind her. Rin gave Hayate an apologetic look as the stunned man looked on.


	3. Chapter 2

"Sorry Hayate... Kay really really doesn't want to have the Pretear. She's convinced that To have him would be a disaster." Rin shrugged. "All of those wounds are from her being preted with him today. I'm not so sure that she's wrong." Rin was being awfully sober today, and it was making her sad.

Hayate gave Rin a look and then shook his head.

"I'll talk to my son, but you just keep in mind that you're not wrong in having him. Being without the Pretear would spell disaster for you all," he said in a completely serious tone. With that, he disappeared in a flash of blue light back to his home on Earth.

Himeno, this whole time, had been trying to placate Kyo, who had nearly been hit by yet another bolt of lightning. He had been inside, so she wasn't entirely sure what had happened. There was no hole in the roof or anything, so she wasn't sure how Kyo had almost been hit by the lightening.

Bubbles was watching her friend with sorrow. She didn't like it when Rin wasn't happy. Rin was her happy buddy. They were the two that were always in such happy moods and drove the others crazy by being TOO happy. She pounced on RIn.

"IT's okay RIn. Everyone starts off rough thheir first day on a job! He was doing pretty good the second half of the fight remember?" she said in her usual 'bubbly' way.

"H-hehe-! EH?" Kyo was starting to have a mild panic attack. his Dad and just VANISHED! Vanished they way those girls had! "Wh-what's going- MEEEEEEEEEEEEP!" he jumped to the side as a bolt of lightning tried to kill him again. SOmething was definately wrong. Lightning did NOT strike indoors! He wasn't good at science but he knew that much. And then his father came back. "WHAT GOING ON?" he demanded, at his limit for being able to 'except' things without question. It was something he was pretty good at it... but this was just to much.

Rin giggled and rolled over, pinning Bubbles to the floor now, and then starting to tickle her.

"He did indeed," she giggled.

Hayate went over to Kyo and put a hand on each shoulder.

"Calm down son," he said. "I was a Leafe Knight at one point, the original Knight of Wind. Your mother was the Pretear. Kyo, calm down!" Himeno was hovering nearby, the perfect picture of a mother.

Kyo looked a bit miserable as he looked between his parents.

"Okay... so... then... I don't... what I saw really happened then? And Mom us to fight those demons..." it actually made some sense when he thought about it. For why his mother was the way she was. He took a deep breath, trying to work his way into exceptace again. "So... what are the Leafe knights really? And what am I supose to be doing as this Pretear? And what are those demons and where did they come from?"

Himeno sighed and looked at Hayate. They both led Kyo to the living room and sat him down on the couch to explain it all to him.

Several hours later, Himeno led Kyo to his room, telling him to "Sleep tight dear, and you'll feel better in the morning."

She was right. In the morning he felt much better. He was able to except what he had been told, and even found the opportunity exciting. He was going to be like a super hero- out to save the world. It was like a manga! Stretching he started to wonder what he could do to help the girls. THey got hurt when he wasn't doing his job properly by dodging.

'So what do I know... they got a glowing core that I have to destory with the weapons of the knights. So... he needed to get faster at finding it. And he needed to pay attention to his surroundings... hitting the ceiling had not been good. He dressed and headed out to go to school. 'Maybe I should put in more time at the dojo.' he thought, greeting his friends as he saw them on campus. Fisrt was the math class, and within 5 minutes he was off in his own world, doodling on his paper a building design for a cafe.

There was a tapping on the window, and soon everyone in the class was staring out the window as the tapping became more insistent. Three familiar girls ran past the door, and if Kyo had been paying attention, it would have been obvious what was going on.

Kyo was lost in his own world until someone called his name. He looked up at the teacher, thinking it was him. But the teacher was staring out the window, wide-eyed. he looked around the room, everyone else was staring at the window with similar looks of shock. Kyo, now hearing the insistent tapping looked as well and yelped, falling off his chair as he jumped back. It was Kay! He heard a few giggles and looked around, flushing, and saw three of the other knights at the door.

'Son of a-' He shot to his feet. "Sorry Sensei I need to go for a bit!" he explained before bolting from the room. "What's going on? Why are you guys at my school?" he asked. Akira, one of the three that had been at the door answered.

"Another demon laarva appeared. It's time for us to go to work Kyo." she explained. "And Kay isn't happy at all about coming to get you, so be prepared." He sighed.

"Right. Where is it?"

Rin dashed up to Kyo and grinned.

"Hey there Kyo-yo!" she said cheerfully before taking his hand. Instead of a flash of light, like it had been when he preted with Kay, this time, it was the depths of darkness that enveloped the two, and when the shadows were gone, Kyo was dressed in a black tux, complete with some silver piping. Rin giggled. Her voice echoed in his head. "No time to admire yourself this time Kyo-yo! The demon larvae is down by the riverside. Kay and most of the others are waiting, so we should hurry!"

Kay, meanwhile, was trying desperately to save the humans that had fallen when the demon larvae had begun to attack. She was moving their limp bodies to a safe place when she was suddenly caught across the stomach and hurled into one of the supporting legs for the bridge.

"Ouch..." she groaned. Titania rushed over to her, the Knight of Plants already holding hands out to Kay, as if to heal her. Kay roughly shoved her hands away and glared at her. "We are in a battle, and I will not have you fading just because you tried to heal a few of my bruises," she ground out. She was really hurting, but she wouldn't let the others know that.

"You're bleeding..." Titania pointed out. Kay blinked and reached up to touch the back of her head and winced when she realized that the Knight of Plants was right.

"Don't worry about it, let's just get this demon larvae taken care of and these people to safety." And so it was that all of the Knights, except Akira and Rin, were fighting when they showed up with Kyo. Kay's hair was matted with blood, but mostly because head wounds bleed much more than is really called for. "What took you so long?" she shouted at Kyo, fending off another attack from the demon larvae.

"Oh dear Kyo-yo, it looks like she's hurt! We need to hurry and finish this," Rin said in a hurried tone. Somehow, she still sounded cheerful despite being serious at the same time. "Tell everyone to get out of the way once you've found the core. The Shadow Ray is very dangerous whether you are friend or foe. Okay?" Rin sounded super serious now, so Kyo probably should have gotten the hint.

Kyo was about to answer her but the demon laarva was suddenly very interested in him. He caught the movement of one of it's tenticles reaching for him and dropped down, rolling out of the way. The damn think kept shooting out at him with it's tenticles so he couldn't even get close to look for the seed. As he dodged agian a progectile from the thing caught him off gaurd, sending him flying backwards from the force of impact. He heard Rin cry out in pain and cursed at himself.

"Rin! I'm so sorry." he now had tenticles and procetiles to worry about which made getting close a lot harder... unless... Another tentcle reached for him and he dodged with a spin before grabbing hold of the thing as he retracted. this brought him straight back to the laarva, and he saw the faint glow as another tenticle was used to shuck him off. "Back off!" he called. "I found it! Rin, it's about a meter left of the center from where we are and is buried pretty deep." he told her. "What's you're weapon. I still don't understand."

"Just call it out Kyo-yo, and you'll understand soon enough!" Rin said. Her voice was a bit wavering, but still strong. When Kyo did shout it, a beam of utter darkness shot from his pointer finger towards the creature. The creature began to wither. Once the beam hit the core, the creature burst into pieces before being sucked into what could only be described as a black hole. Once the creature was gone, the beam was gone too. "Understand now Kyo-yo?" Rin asked as she unpreted from him. She smiled. "The others might be able to kill, but I know that I can without even having to try."

He nodded, smiling at her.

"That's quite the ability. Seems a bit risky if ever misaimed though." he added with a sigh. "Are you alright?" he asked, expression turning worried. "I know you took a hit for me earlier so..."

Smiling, Rin showed him the slight bruise that she had received.

"It always feels worse than it really happens to be," she giggled, then skipped over to Bubbles' side while Kay stalked over towards Kyo.

"Didn't you sense the demon larvae?" she growled, glaring at him.

Bubbles fussed over her for a moment, then assured her friend was alright, preceded to lead her in a happy victory dance. Kyo flinched ever so slightly, looking like a puppy that had just been smacked for misbehaving.

"No... I'm sorry. I didn't feel anything... I'm try to be more observant in the future..."

Rin danced with Bubbles happily, glad that she had been able to help in the destruction of the demon larvae. Kay scowled and shook her head.

"You better," she said, her voice low and her tone dark. Ariel sighed and went over to Kay.

"Be a little nicer," she said. "It's only his second time."

The looked Kyo gave Ariel was one of pure gratitude to the point of almost being pathetic, yet somehow was also endearing. Akira sighed.

"You did well today Kyo. Do you need help getting back to school?" She also recieved a similar look, though this time it wasn't quite so intense.

"Yes please!" They vanished, and Kyo was back at school.

Ariel sighed and shook her head, then looked at Kay.

"What is it that you have against the poor boy?" she asked. Kay growled before answering.

"I didn't want a pretear, and I never did. There are too many variables, and this fool seems to be as clumsy as they come. Besides," she added, a darker and deeper pain in her voice, "I don't want to lose another young man to what our cause is..."

Akira had come back then and she went over to Kay, and whispered.

"If you're not more careful Kay we will lose him because of your refusal to work with him properly. We have a pretear now. Fighting it only makes things more painful for everyone." Akira tended to be the soft voice of reason within the group. She rarely spoke out against any of the other Knights. Now she did, but only to Kay herself. "Just keep that in mind Kay." She went to her twin. "Akane, we should get back to school ourselves now." Akane smiled and nodded.

"Right. See you girls later." and the twins vanished.

Kay gave Akira a hurt look but turned to go before the other girls could see it.

"I will make an effort to work with him if he makes an effort to become better," she said after a few moments. Rin grinned and elbowed Bubbles playfully before running off with her back to work. Titania, Ariel, and Snow vanished back to the college, and Rei (the Knight of Fire) left to go back to her job as well. Kay was left standing by herself, and she clenched her fist.

"I can't go back to work with my mind all jumbled like this..." she muttered, and vanished to a bridge, unknowingly close to where Kyo lived. A storm was gathering, her heart calling out to the weather as it usually did, and causing the already dark clouds to grow darker and to hang lower.

Kyo didn't feel like going to math class, and so- make the choice that Math class was going to be a waste of time today, he chose to skip, and made his way back home. He was trying to figure out what he could do to make Kay less... hostile towards him, when he saw her on the bridge, not far from home. He watched her for a moment, then chose to go over to her.

"Hey... Kay... what are you doing out here?" he looked up at the sky, which was already starting to drizzle. "You'll catch a cold sitting out in a storm."

"Ah... What?" Kay asked, not realizing who she was talking to at first. Looking up, she didn't realize that there were tears in her eyes, but when she saw who it was, she blinked, and a tear streaked down her cheek. Grimacing, she scrubbed the tears away and then turned away from Kyo. "Why do you care?" she asked, her tone somehow lacking the bite it had held earlier when she had been talking to Kyo.

Kyo hated to see people cry.

"Why? Because, we're partners. What's wrong with caring about you're partner? besides... you're a girl. Not that I'm saying girls are weak or anything!" he added hastily. "Anyone who knows my Mom knows that girls can be scary strong. It's just... I'm worried about you. What's wrong? I'm really good at listening... I mean.. at least that's what I've been told." he offered, talking hurriedly, and sounding flustered and even a bit unsure.

Kay just stared at Kyo, not sure whether to be insulted or not. She sneezed then, her face all scrunched up as her head tilted forward with the force of the sneeze. Shaking her head as she stood straight again, she sighed.

"I suppose I should go home. Hey, thanks for talking to me. If you hadn't said anything, I would have been out here til tomorrow morning," she said, starting to turn away.

Kyo choked on a chuckled, and covered hhis mouth, hoping that she wouldn't have heard it.

Kay stopped when she heard the chuckle, and turned around, her hands on her hips as she glared at Kyo.

"Are you laughing at me mofo?" she asked. Sneezing again, she stumbled forward, right into him. Blushing instantly, she backed up, and glared at him even harder. "What are you laughing at?"

Now he was outright chuckling.

"No- I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just.. Your sneeze is so cute." he chuckled again. "My place is only a block away. Come on. You need to dry off and warm up."

Blinking in shock, Kay allowed herself to be pulled along. Only one other person had told her something like that... Her eyes filling with tears, she tried to blink them away, but then the rain that had been threatening for an hour or so started to fall.

At Kyo's house, Himeno warmly welcomed Kay into her home and helped her into some warm clothing that Himeno had outgrown. Kay dried her hair and face and body, then donned the clothing. It was a pair of skinny jeans and a t-shirt with a Popsicle on it. Looking the mirror, Kay realized that she was blushing and quickly shook her head, realizing that she was doing it again, and that she shouldn't, she really shouldn't be letting herself get close to a young man again. Sighing, she made her way downstairs and into the living room.

"Hullo Hayate," she said as she sat on the couch. She was feeling a little chilled, but noticed that everyone else in the room seemed at ease. So she didn't say anything, and instead exerted her considerable willpower to just seem like she was fine. "Thank you for loaning me clothes as well Himeno."

Kyo came into the room and handed Kay a blanket, that easy smile on his face.

"Here. You didn't take a shower to warm up." He on the other hand, had. His hair, which was dark light his father's was still damp, and he had a towel around his neck. "Mom, Dad, I'm going to make some tea, you want some?" when they said they did he directed that smile back at Kyo. What about you? I could make coffee, or hot chocolate if you'd like that instead."

"Tea is good," Kay said with a smile. It had been a long time since she had smiled last, so she felt a little awkward. But she looked radiant. A shiver shook her, but she chose not to notice, wrapping the blanket around her and figuring that it would help her to warm up. Looking around the house, she was taken aback by how big it was. She hadn't really noticed with the rain blanketing it. "You have such a large house Himeno. It's so well kept, and beautiful. How do you do it?" she asked. Himeno smiled.

"I pay people to come in every other day. I have my work and everything else to worry about, and I just don't have time to clean," she said. Kay nodded. Himeno and Hayate smiled at each other as they watched Kay as she looked around and just sat there, curled up on the couch.


	4. Chapter 3

Kyo returned with a tray of drinks and passed them out to everyone. He took a seat on the other end of the couch of Kay. They talked for a bit, and Kyo kept glancing at Kay. Finally his smile was completely replaced by a frown. He leaned other to Kay, pushing back her bangs with one have and touching his forehead to hers. After a moment he pulled away from her and got to his feet. "Mom, I'm going to put Kay in one of the guest rooms Okay?" he was already picking Kay up before his mother had finished saying that it was alright.

Kay struggled weakly to get out of Kyo's arms, her face a bright red as she was blushing and feverish at the same time.

"What are you doing? I'm perfectly fine!" she protested, her voice just as strong as before, but lacking any bite at all.

Rin was pacing the floor of the living room at their home in Leafeania. Frowning, she turned to Bubbles.

"Did Kay-kay come back at all? It's been raining... She could be sick somewhere!" she said, her tone worried. "We should go see if Kyo-yo has seen her at all," she added, taking Bubbles' hand.

Hayate looked at Himeno.

"Maybe I should go let the other girls where their leader is," he said. Himeno shook her head.

"They'll come looking for her. Besides. You passed out the last time you came back from going there. I'm not going to let you kill yourself by using power that you've nearly nothing left of," she said.

"You are not fine Kay. You have a fever. Now stop struggling. Save you're energy and focus on making yourself well again, Kyo told her, taking her up the stairs. "You're really light." he added, seeming surprised by the fact.

Bubble took her hand and nodded.

"Okay, we'll ask Kyo-yo if he's seen her, and then the other girls if he hasn't." they phased to the house. "Ah! Uncle hayate! hello!" bubbles greeted entusiaticlly. "We're looking for Kyo-yo to see if he's seen Kays!" she told him in that 'bubbly' way that had earned her the name 'Bubbles'.

"I don't weigh much," Kay said sullenly. "I am the Knight of Light after all..." She completely ignored his comment about the fever, though she knew it was true. She could already feel herself starting to tremble from it. Hearing Bubbles and Rin down in the living room, she groaned. "Oh no..."

Hayate smiled at the two and pointed upstairs.

"Kyo just took he upstairs. She seems to be a little sick right now, so he's taking her to a guest room and getting her situated," he said. Rin's eyes were wide.

"Kay-kay is sick!" she gasped, then turned and dashed up the stairs. Hayate chuckled a little bit and turned to Himeno.

"Those two remind me of your friend a bit. What was her name again?" he asked. Himeno smiled and answered him.

"Her name was Yayoi, dear," she said.

Kay now struggled to get out of Kyo's arms even more, but only ended up knocking them both over, with her underneath him.

"Dammit..." she muttered irritably.

Kyo had ended up wrapping his arms around her, one hand cradling her head, the other around her waist to keep her from hurting herself in the fall.

"Seriously. That's why I told you not to struggle so much." Kyo told her, sitting up. "Are you okay?" he heard a gasp from behind him and turned to see Bubbles and Rin, bubbles had gasped and had her hands over her mouth.

"What are you dong to kay-kay?" she asked.

"Oh, hey girls. Kay had a fever right now. I'm taking her to one of the guest rooms to rest. but she keeps struggling." he was already picking her up again, oblivious to how it had looked to them. "Hey... when a Knight gets sick it's pretty much the same as anyone else right?" he asked, turning to face the two- Kay once again in his arms. He was also ignoring her protest, and had locked his arms this time, so her struggling was completely useless. He wasn't holding her tightly, tight enough for struggling to not work... at all.

Rin looked at Bubbles and then sighed.

"Well, our powers go haywire, and the Leafe in the room we're in gets a little screwy, but with Kay, it's different..." Rin started to say, but a shriek from Kay cut her off. Rushing forward, Rin realized that Kay was just frustrated.

"Do NOT tell him about that! Swear to me!" Kay shouted, her eyes wild. She was pinned, and unable to struggle, but she was certainly loud. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed outside, the rain began to pour down harder. Rin held out her hands to Kay and a little pulse of shadow jetted out to hit Kay, causing her to fall limp and unconscious.

"I won't Kay-kay, I promise..." Rin said mournfully, then looked to Kyo. "Just make sure she stays calm." Outisde, everything had calmed down, but the rain still fell, although lightly.

Kyo was spacey, but not stupid by any stretch. Thunder had recently been attacking him- ever since he'd meet Kay in fact. And as she had suddenly got wild, so had the weather outside... could she really be the cause of it? He nodded to Rin.

"I'll do what I can." Bubbles was sober for once and looking outside.

"Poor Kay." she whispered softly. "I'll put a barrier on the room you're in, so that she wont adversely affect the rest of the house okay?" she told him, following him into the room. Kyo laid Kay down on the bed and pulled the covers over her.

"Does she have any food that she doesn't like?" he asked Rin, as bubbles was busy making her time separation barrier. Time would flow separately in that room, almost like a pocket dimension.

"The only thing I've ever seen her eat is pretzels when she has the munchies," Rin admitted. "I don't really know. But she might eat anything, so don't worry too much." Rin went to Bubbles and helped her by putting a hand on her friend's shoulder, giving the girl extra Leafe so that she wouldn't fade from too much power. They didn't have to do this sort of thing in Leafeania, but Rin figured it would be a good idea to let Kay get used to having Kyo around. "We will be in to check on her tomorrow morning," she added as she turned around, both her and Bubbles done. Smiling, Rin seemed to have become her old happy self again. "Be good Kyo-yo! Don't let Kay-kay get you too down."

Kyo nodded. He'd just have to find out on his own then.

"See you girls later." he smiled and waved as the vanished. He looked back at Kay and then went downstairs. "Mom, I'm going to go ahead and stay at the house until Kay gets better. The medicine is all still in the cabinet right?" He set up an ice pack, medicine with a glass of water ready to be used, as well as some rice porridge he'd made in a bowl being kept warm by the cover. Then he pulled up a chair and waited. He had no idea how long whatever Rin had done would last.

Kay started to stir a few moments later, and she gasped, sitting up, then fell backwards with a groan. Her face was flushed and she was dizzy, trying to figure out why she was here and not in Leafeania. Looking around, she realized that Kyo was in the room.

"Here to laugh at me again?" she muttered, her tone completely devoid of all emotion. Her eyes were flat as she looked at him, and it gave a rather eerie effect to her flushed face. Her golden hair spilled out onto the pillow and she was shivering uncontrollably

Kyo sighed.

"No, as I told you. I wasn't laying at you last time. I just thought your sneeze was cute." he told her. "Here's some medicine and some porridge." He put one knee on the bed and pulled her up with one arm easily. With the other arm he adjusted her pillows so she could be comfortable propped up against them, before leaning her back. "They'll help with your fever." This task done he handed her the pills and the water. "And this has to be taken with food. So you're eating the porridge." Kyo added, his tone giving no room for argument but still somehow gentle. Der dead eyed look was disconcerting, and worried him a bit.

"Okay..." Once again, her tone was empty, but she ate the food and drank the water in order to take the pills. Her eyes had taken on a little bit more life, but were still mostly flat. "Did they tell you?" she asked abruptly.

"They told me the only thing they'd ever seen you eat was pretzels, which made it difficult for me to figure out what you like and don't like. And that I need to keep you calm... which I'm not sure I can do- since you seem to dislike me so much." this last bit he said in a deflated, whipped puppy way. He didn't like being disliked.

"I don't dislike you," Kay said calmly. "I am just wary of the consequences that this will bring." Her eyes and tone were beginning to regain life, and she seemed to be calm enough that she was coherent. She was still shivering, and still flushed, but she was not so far gone that her powers were out of whack, and the weather outside was calm, just the slight pitter patter of the light rain that had been predicted for the day. Turning over so that her back was facing Kyo, she started to fall asleep, something that she never really did in front of someone unless she trusted the person. "You don't have to stay in here..."

"I know... but I will just the same." Kyo told her quietly. "Get some rest. You're going to need it to get better... Kay."

Kay just nodded, and soon was asleep.

About an hour or so later, light began to swirl around the room, flickering in an eerie manner. It was the effects of Kay's fever beginning to take a toll on her, and she became a little restless as well, moaning a bit in her sleep as she turned over, towards Kyo. There were tears on her face, but her face seemed open, unguarded. She whimpered, calling out for a boy that was long gone, dead, though Kyo did not know that.

Kyo didn't know who the boy she called for was, but from the fact she called for him crying... there must be a sad past to the name. He reached out and gently brushed the tears from Kay's cheeks.

"It's alright Kay." he whispered gently. His voice was warm and caring. "You're not alone. I'm here with you."

Even in her sleep, Kay seemed to understand the words, though she could not comprehend who they were from. Her hand reached up to take Kyo's hand, and her sobbing slowly subsided. The light in the room still swirled and flickered, shook and bobbed as the fever grew worse, but Kay didn't get upset again. She remained asleep, and calm.

Kyo held her hand the entire time, watching over her. At some point he fell asleep, still holding her hand, his head resting on the edge of the bed as he leaned forward in his seat.

The next morning, Kay woke slowly, her fever having gone through the worst of it. Realizing that someone was holding her hand, her heart skipped a beat.

"It can't be..." she whispered, momentarily think herself in the past, and he was there, holding her hand like he always used to. Seeing that it was Kyo, Kay's face fell, and tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "No, I knew it wasn't him..." The whispered words were broken, and she pulled her hand out of Kyo's hand, curling up into a ball and sobbing quietly into the pillow

Kyo woke when she'd retrieved her hand. But he hadn't really moved or even opened his eyes until she was in a ball crying. He wouldn't be able to do anything to help her. And if she knew he'd so much as heard her crying like that... it would make her angry. So he stayed quite, his eyes staring at the far wall. He felt utterly helpless. And that was why he hated it when people cried. Because so rarely was he able to do anything to help them.

A few moments later, Kay had forced the memories of him back, and she was through with crying. Her eyes were red, and the normally light amber colour very dark, from her sorrow. Tear streaks were on her cheeks, but she was calm once again, and she stretched out, then tried to sit up. She was, however, still dizzy. Looking over at Kyo, she didn't really notice that he was awake, so she gently shook his shoulder.

"Hey... Kyo?" she asked, not really sure of what to do. She couldn't really go on treating him like she had, could she? He had stayed up with her all night it seemed. She sighed. "Hmm..."

Kyo feigned waking and looked up at her. His expression became sad and even a bit frustrated. Reaching out he wiped away a lingering tear on her cheek.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, letting the pensive look fade into one of gentle caring. "Do you need anything?"

Blinking in surprise, Kay couldn't answer for a second, but then gave him a flustered look and answered him.

"I'm feeling a little dizzy... But not as bad as I was feeling last night," she said. "What are you sad about?" she asked after a moment.

"Because you're sad and there's nothing I can do to help." he answered, simple, honest, and quick. He got to his feet. "I'll get you some more medicine and something else to eat. Anything sound good or should i just make some more porridge?"

Kay was stunned for a moment, and then realized that she must have said or done something while she was feverish.

"Oh... Um... Porridge is fine. Thank you..." she whispered as he left the room. Hugging the pillow close to her as she rolled onto her side, she lapsed into thought, staring at the wall as she did. She didn't really see the wall, but instead saw what she was thinking about, trying to figure out exactly what had happened to how she saw Kyo from just the day before.

Kyo returned about twenty minutes later, and gave her the medicine again, and her porridge.

Kay thanked him and sat up with his help, starting to eat the porridge and then taking the pills, before something struck her. Even though she had been zoned out the entire time, she'd still been aware of the time passing.

"How come it took twenty minutes?" she asked, truly curious.

"Hmm? Well... because I made the porridge from scratch. It's much better for you that way." he told her. "Plus, I didn't want to give you left overs. Left over rice never tastes right again."

Kay laughed a little, the first time she'd ever laughed in any presence other than that of her fellow Knights.

"Yeah, that's true," she admitted. Falling silent as she ate again, she finished quickly and looked at Kyo after taking the medicine. "What did I say while I was sleeping?" she asked. Her voice seemed to be choked a little, but then she shook her head. "No, never mind. I think I already know. I should get back to Leafeania. The others must be worried about me, and I think Rin and Bubbles forgot. It would be completely like them."

Kyo chuckled.

"That's true. I think they make me look like I've got a solid head on my shoulders. And I'm the spaciest guy in most of my classes. But they're sweet. They were really worried about you. Even Bubbles got all serious when she decided to make the barrier here." he was giving her that easy smile again. "But you really should rest until you're better. Fevers have a bad habit of getting better until you exert yourself and then getting worse. Besides, you're still dizzy aren't you?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Kay mumbled sullenly. She sighed and lay back in bed. Hearing a familiar voice downstairs though, she groaned.

"She's saddled me with extra work for the past three days. Is she really that sick Hayate?" Kei complained. Hayate sighed and nodded, forcing Kei to sit on the couch instead of running upstairs to yell at the sick Knight of Light.

"There's also another reason," he said, talking about Kei having to do extra work. "She's the new Knight of Light." Kei gave him a shocked look and then started laughing, to the point that he had tears in his eyes.

"Seriously Hayate? That's not even possible," Kei gasped out. Hayate shrugged.

"And yet somehow it is Kei. My son is the Pretear," he said. Kei gave Hayate an astounded look, and then shook his head.

"Somehow, I knew that at some point everything would switch around, but I never thought it would be the generation after ours," he said. Hayate nodded in agreement, sitting back and sipping on a cup of tea as he lapsed into thought.

Kyo turned in his seat.

"It's Uncle Kei. He doesn't come here often." He got to his feet. "I'll be back in a bit Kay. I'm just going to go say Hi." He went to the door. He hadn't been able to hear the conversation between his father and Kei, but the idea hit him anyway. 'Mom said they use to work together... and I know he was Dad's friend first... does that mean... he's a former Leafe Knight too?' He made it to the living room and beamed. "Uncle Kei. What are you doing here?"

"Complaining about your Knight of Light," Kei said sourly. "She saddled me with three days' worth of extra work! Is her fever really that bad? Hayate says that you've been taking care of her all night." Hayate gave Kyo an apologetic look.

"I already told Kei that her fever really was that bad, but he won't listen." Hayate gave Kei a sidelong look. "He's just bitter that it's a group of girls fighting this time around, and he's not in on it," he added with an evil chuckle. Kei jumped up and glared at Hayate.

"That is not it at all!" he shouted. Himeno then came into the room and calmly bopped them both on the head.

"Quiet both of you. Kay needs rest and you're bothering her," she said. Kei scowled and rubbed his head, but sat back down, quietly. Hayate just grinned and kept drinking his tea.

Kyo had his brow furrowed in a rare expression of irritation.

"Yes she really is that sick. Kay's not a slacker that would just skip work. In fact I have to practically force her to stay here and rest properly." he explained, adamantly defending her. He'd already got lectured by his mother, but Kay was Kyo's partner now. He wasn't going to let even Uncle Kei misjudge her.

Kei smiled at Hayate.

"At least we know that Princes aren't born the same way Princesses are," he said. Hayate frowned.

"That isn't a joking matter. They still fade same as we would," he added, referring to the Knights. "If Kay's fever gets bad enough and her Leafe is out of balance enough, she could just vanish." Kei sobered after that.

"I wouldn't be able to replace her. I've not enough power as a Knight of Light. I know that none of us have enough power since the new Knights have been born..." he said. Himeno had gone back into the kitchen, cooking some chicken noodle soup for Kay. The conversation had continued as if Kyo had left the room, so Kei and Hayate were talking of matters that they knew about that Kyo most likely did not know about, like how Knights faded from lack of Leafe.

Kyo listened carefully, taking a seat on the couch. He was till new to all of this, so anything he could learn about his Knights he wanted to. It would help him better under what he needed to do to keep them safe. Though... He was having a hard time understanding it all...

"Hey... I'm still new to this whole leafe and pretear thing. How about a bit more explanation when you talk." he requested, nearly pouting.

"They haven't told you yet?" Hayate asked in disbelief. Shaking his head, he sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you. If a Knight uses too much of her power, or is drained of Leafe, she'll fade away." Kei nodded, agreeing with Hayate.

"Ignore the stuff about Princesses. We were talking about the Princess of Disaster and how she's born differently from how a Prince of Disaster is born," he added. "We only know because at one time in the past, the switch up of gender roles between Knights and Pretear has happened. They documented very accurately what had happened, and we know that the Prince of Disaster is also much more malicious than the Princess of Disaster." Kei looked at Hayate, who sighed.

"This is going to be a very hard time for you Kyo. Come talk to us if you have any issues," his father said.

Meanwhile, Kay was forcing herself to stand when she sneezed. There was a slight popping sound and she found herself floating in the living room above Kei, Kyo, and Hayate. She shrieked as she fell, her Leafe so out of whack that she couldn't even make herself levitate there safely.

It was only thanks to Kyo's quick reflexes that he managed to stand and lurch forward fast enough to catch her before she hit the floor.

"Kay? What are you doing." his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Were you trying to leave? I told you that you need to stay put until you're well again." He was scowling her, but doing so gently. And once again he was holding her without seeming to be really aware of it. "Seriously, after what they just said and everything." he sighed. "Excuse me. I need to take the attempted escapee back to bed." He nodded to Kei and his father before turning to take Kay back upstairs.

"I was not!" Kay protested, her face flushed. "I sneezed..." Her flush grew brighter as she blushed even more. "I didn't realize that my Leafe was that far out of whack..." she mumbled, burrowing her face into Kyo's neck, as if to hide from the others. As Kyo disappeared back upstairs with Kay, Hayate turned to Kei.

"That one also seems to have an effect on the weather," he said, referring to Kei's replacement Knight.

"Aww. I missed the sneeze? That's too bad." He actually sounded remorseful about that. "Still, if a sneeze made you do that, then I'd better get you some better medicine. We have a doctor that makes house calls. I'll ask him to come by and have a look at you. Or... would you rather a female doctor? Some people are particular about stuff like that. I can always find one that makes house calls if you'd rather have another woman." he saw the condition of the bed and looked at her, that scolding look back. "If you weren't trying to escape why did you get out of the bed?"

"I needed to stretch," Kay said defensively. "I don't really think that a doctor can help though..." She looked at Kyo. "Please don't call one..."


	5. Chapter 4

Kei looked at Hayate, shock written on his face.

"I don't think I've ever heard of a Knight having that before," he said.

"Well the medicine seemed to help. And a doctor can at least prescribe better medicine than we have lying around the house." he laid her back down and leaned down, placing his forehead to hers again. "You're fever feels like it's going down from how it was last night while you were sleeping, so that's good at least." he told her, straightening but sitting on the edge of the bed. "Is it because you're a Leafe Knight that you don't think a doctor can help? Are you really that different from humans?"

"I'm different from the other Knights too..." Kay said bitterly. She closed her eyes and curled up in a ball, edging further away from Kyo, more towards the middle of the bed.

Kyo was silent for a moment.

"Because you have an effect on the weather?" he guessed.

"You figured it out on your own, yes? Then you should know that it's true," Kay said softly. "I've been alone for a long time because of it. None of the other Knights really understand what it is that I am, and I certainly don't..."

Kyo furrowed his brow.

"Don't be stupid. Just because you have a power that others don't doesn't make you not human. Look at me. I'm about as regular guy as you can get, but apparently I'm the Pretear. I can see the seeds of demon larva. I'm still human though. Some people are just more gifted than others, that doesn't make them less human. It just means they have more responsibilities. And since you can keep your power so well in check, it means you're very responsible with your power. I mean... sure I've nearly been struck by lightning a few times- which is terrifying... but you've managed to keep control enough that I've never actually been it by the lightning. With a power as great as weather manipulation, you're amazing for being able to do that."

"I wasn't always so amazing..." This came out as a muffled whisper, and it sounded so bone chillingly sad that it was impossible to tell if Kay was crying or not. "I may be human, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. With a power like this, I would be better off dead..."

"H-hey! Don't say that Kay! That's not true." Kyo told her. He'd meant his words to be some sort of encouragement, but they seemed to have completely backfired on him.

"What would you know?" Kay screamed. She had sat up, turned towards Kyo. Her hair swirled around her head as static electricity built in the room. Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. Closing her eyes, she vanished from the room, the usual light golden light that signaled her departure a deep amber color. She reappeared in some wooded area, some miles away. Shivering and trembling as she knelt in the sodden grass, she let the electricity discharge. A lance of lightning dashed down into the earth very close to her, burning her tender skin. Another two or three lances did the same, and then all was still. The rumbling of thunder in the distance said that the 'storm' was moving away, but Kay was still there. She had passed out there, burned and shivering, her fever worse than before.

"KAY!" Kyo was on his feet. he rushed for the door and jumped over the railing, doing a tuck and roll on the ground floor rather than waiting his time taking the stairs. "Dad, Kay just vanished!" he shouted, screeching to a halt in the living room. He was thinking about Kay, trying to figure out how he would find her, when he felt an almost pull like sensation. He stopped, focusing on the sensation. "Hey... as the Pretear... am I able to feel the Leafe knights?" he asked, focusing harder on the feeling.

Kei look at Hayate, then sighed, shaking his head.

"I really wouldn't know. Female Pretears haven't got that ability, but as a male Pretear, you might. Focus on Kay and tell me what you feel," Kei said, standing and going over to Kyo, his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Kyo didn't answer him. He simple ran out of the living room, grabbing his coat from the hanger, and ran outside, following the pulling sensation. It took him almost an hour of running to find Kay. He was out of breath and his muscles felt like they'd turn into jello any moment now.

"Kay! Kay can you hear me?" she asked, crashing to his knees beside her. He brushed her hair out of her face. She was red. Her fever must have gotten worse again. "Damn. I don't know if I can call the others to me..." he muttered, pulling Kay against him. he pulled off his coat and wrapped it around her. 'Come one please girls Please! Kay needs you!' he thought, thinking of the other knights as he tried to give them the same pull sensation he'd felt. He had no idea if it would work, but he was exhausted. He'd been running as fast as he could the entire time.

Snow appeared at Kyo's side, giving him a strange look, but then realizing who he was holding.

"Kay!" she gasped, falling to her knees beside the two. "Here Kyo," she continued, grabbing his hand and then causing all three of them to disappear in a flash of white light to Leafeania. She took Kay from Kyo and lay her in her own bed, then turned to Kyo and put her hands on his shoulders, giving him some Leafe. It would have strengthened him as much as she was able to give him. "Kyo, what happened to Kay? Why is she all burned like that? And why is she so hot to touch?" Snow was worried. She'd been the only one able to feel the pull, she being the most sensitive of all the Knights to that sort of thing.

"She has a fever. I... I don't know why she's burned..." Kyo told her. "She was at my house.. but then.. she got angry at me again and just vanished." He was watching kay, worried. "She's not going to fade is she?"

"Now that she's here, there is no danger of it. This place is made of Leafe. She will be fine in that respect. It seems that her fever is really bad now. Was it this bad when she left?" Snow asked. She could see the worry in Kyo's eyes. "It also looks like her burns are from something natural. They don't look to be healing anytime soon, even with Leafe helping. Was there any buildup of static electricity before she left?" Snow was busy getting a cool cloth for Kay's forehead, though it seemed that Kay was tossing and turning and would not be still for a little while.

"Her fever wasn't this bad when she left... but there was some build up. Her hair got really frizzy just before she vanished." Kyo told her. "What can I do to help?"

Kay, in her flailings, had brushed her hand against Kyo's, and that had seemed to calm her down a bit. Snow noticed and then turned to Kyo, handing him the bowl of water and the washcloth.

"You make sure that she stays calm and that this washcloth stays on her forehead, no matter how much she tosses and turns. I will go let the other girls know that Kay is sick, and they will come back to help," she said, turning to leave.

Kyo nodded, taking her hand again. She had seemed to relax at his home when he'd held her hand. He'd just have to make sure that he let go before she woke up this time. She didn't seem to like him much- and he didn't want to upset her again. Any time she tossed the cloth off, he placed it back on her forehead.

As Kay tossed and turned, she slowly became calmer as time went on. Soon she wasn't tossing the washcloth off as much. Instead, she was mumbling utter nonsense under her breath. At one point, she opened her eyes and said Kyo's name. But she was not awake, and she just seemed to slip back into unconsciousness again. Rin soon rushed into the room, followed by Titania and Ariel, Bubbles most likely close behind.

"Kyo-yo! Is she okay?" Rin asked, worried.

She was, Bubble popped up over Rin's shoulder.

"Yeah, is Kay-kay okay?" Kyo nodded.

"She's doing better now. She seems to like her hand being held when she's like this too." he commented, lifting their joined hands. "It keeps her a bit calmer." He looked down at Kay, looking almost ashamed. He bowed his head to the girls. "I'm sorry i wasn't able to take better care of her."

Rin frowned at Bubbles, then started to say something. Titania got to the point first.

"Kyo, in the situation that you were in, you did the best you could. And that was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. You kept her in bed for a whole night and day. Even we can't do that!" she said with a grin. Walking over and patting Kyo on the back, the Knight of Plants looked at Kay. "It seems that even grumpy ole Kay isn't immune to your charms."

Kyo's eyes became perplexed, and he tilted his head.

"Charms?" he asked, oblivious to them. Which oddly enough was one of his charms.

Titania smiled.

"You're sweet, uncomplicated, and just like a puppy," she said. "Kay can't even compete with that."

"Why does everyone compare me with a puppy?" Kyo asked. "I'm a big guy, so wouldn't a dog or something be better... oh no... Dogs have often been a bad guy though..." He seemed to ponder this. Trying to think of an animal that was still 'cute and sweet' without being so degrading to his manliness. But he wasn't able to think of any. Being cute and sweet took away from that all on its own. Regardless of what animal they pegged the traits on.

Titania laughed a little, then motioned for the others to leave the room.

"Well, I'll leave you to your pondering. I'll make you something to eat while I'm at it. Spaghetti sound good?" she asked, then walked out of the room without waiting for an answer. Kay was slowly calming down, not tossing and turning anymore, just sleeping.

Kyo stayed by her side the whole time. He only let go of her hand to eat the spaghetti that was brought to him. And if she started to stir, he'd abandon his food and hold her hand again.

As Kay slowly came awake, her grip tightened on Kyo's hand. She looked around, and noting that she was in her room in Leafeania, she frowned in confusion.

"How did I end up here?" she murmured. Looking at Kyo, her confused frown grew deeper. "How did you end up here?" she asked, the emphasis on the 'you.' She hadn't let go of Kyo's hand though, and she didn't seem to be upset about it either.

If Kyo had had puppy ears they'd have drooped when she said 'you' like that.

"I found you after you vanished from my house... and called um... Snow. She came and took us here." he explained. He had released his grip on her hand, so really it was her holding his. He just hoped that when she finally noticed she wouldn't get upset with him for it. "You're fever got really bad and you have some burns now... but it looks like you're recovering nicely." he told her, tone hopeful.

Kay looked at her body, and at the skin that was burned.

"The burns are from lightning," she said quietly, then looked at Kyo. Realizing that he had loosened his grip on her hand, she felt a little flutter in her heart. "Don't let go!" she whimpered. Her face was flushed from the fever, but it seemed to grow brighter in flush as she looked away.

On Earth, a demon larvae had begun its dirty deeds, and was sucking the Leafe from a river that flowed into the ocean. Megumi was overseeing this operation, wanting to make sure that it succeeded. The Prince of Darkness was dressed in his usual black, but now it was embellished with large crackles of rock, and other such items.

Kyo gave her a blank look for a moment, confused by the fact that she _didn't_ want him to let go, and tightened his grip on her hand. Akira, who had been kneeling with her sister in the background, shot to her feet.

"Demon Larva." she whispered. Kyo's head whipped around to see her. He closed his eyes, focusing on the feeling he'd gotten from demon Larva's in the past and felt a familiar pull. He looked back down at Kay.

"I need to go. You stay here and rest. Don't even think of trying to follow us." he got to his feet, and letting go of her hand. "Bubbles. Could I ask you to keep an eye on her?" he wasn't sure why, but he just felt that Bubbles was the right choice to ask. Bubbles nodded in her usual peppy way with an excited cutesy

'KAY!' He looked to the others.

"Let's go."

Kay forced herself to let go of Kyo, then looked away, not wanting to watch him leave. She had put herself so far out there, and she wasn't sure that she'd liked that she'd done that. What was this feeling? She'd refused to feel it again, but here it was... She did not look at Bubbles either, and just closed her eyes.

"I'm going back to sleep," she said, her tone a bit sullen and angry.

Megumi was standing near his demon larvae, a hand on its back, as if petting it. When the first Leafe Knights began to appear, he tried to get away, but realized that a time barrier had been set up.

"Dammit," he hissed, them looked at the first of the Knights to arrive. "Well Rin, were is your illustrious leader? Too good for you now?" he cackled.

Kyo had taken Akane's hand to teleport, and was preted with her almost as soon as they arrived.

"What the- who is that?" he demanded, startled by the appearance of a human. He'd only briefly heard of the Prince of Disaster from his father and Uncle Kei, but he didn't really know much of anything else since shortly after that Kay had dropped in on them.

"That's the prince of Disaster, Kyo. Stay focused." Akira told him, appearing beside him. There was something about his voice that just struck her heart. She couldn't place what it was but the voice made her feel a strange loneliness and sense of loss.

"The Knight of Light and the Knight of Time much too good to fight for you?" Megumi went on. The wind whipped up and his coat whipped around him. Patting his demon larvae, he caused it to lift him up and then floated above it, the tips of his toes touching his head as he folded his arms across his chest. "And what kind of Pretear is that?" he asked, pointing at Kyo and laughing madly. The demon larvae lashed out at Kyo, and Rin jumped in the way.

"Look out!" she shouted, then was swatted away, tossed into a nearby tree where she folded around the trunk before hitting the ground. Titania, Ariel, and Snow all gathered in front of Kyo, their eyes menacing as they glared at the demon larvae and Megumi.

"Where is your leader Knights? Lounging around and ignoring the world. Isn't that what she always does? Cares nothing for the world, or her comrades?" Megumi continued.

"You're wrong!" Ariel shouted, her eyes shimmering with tears. "Kay cares more about us and the world than anything else! Even her own health!" As if to prove her point, Kay had appeared, a protesting Bubbles by her side. Kay stood straight and tall, an angry glare on her flushed face as she walked towards Kyo and stepped in front of him.

"Don't get in my way," she growled at him, and then took off, coordinating the attack between her and the others, then looked at Kyo. "Kill it! Kill him before he gets stronger! Do it! Now!" The demon larva was very strong though, and before she knew it, her and the others were swatted aside like flies.

"See? Even your precious leader is too weak to run to your side!" Megumi cackled as Kay lay there groaning, and Titania and Snow ran to her side. Kay's head was bleeding from a gash on the side, and Titania hald her hands out to heal her, but Kay slapped them away, staggering to her feet. The burns on her skin were mostly healed by now, but the flush on her face was even worse than before. She staggered over to stand in front of Kyo again, taking a defensive posture, one seen in most hand to hand combat self defense manuals. "Weakling Knight... You seem to be slowing down," Megumi sneered, and then leaned forward, raising her into the air with his own power. Kay screamed in agony as her Leafe was drained. Her figure, within the ball of purple light, alternated between spread eagle, and curled in fetal position.

"Kyo, make it stop!" Rin sobbed.


	6. Chapter 5

Kyo reacted on impulse. With the others flying around he was having a head time finding the larva seed, and with the Cackling creepo there it was even harder. When he Saw Kay get up again he tried to stop her but she was enveloped before he could.

'Call the sword of wind Kyo!' Akane screamed in his head. Kyo did, and it sucked for Megumi, because the sword was something Kyo had been playing with since he was old enough to hold on. He ignored the larva; this guy was the one causing the problems at the moment. He zipped forward, but the larva was before him before he could reach Megumi. "Damn!" he used the wind to change directions. He refused to let Akane get hurt as well. Not when he could avoid it. He ended up in a tree, the larva rushing him. He made a wide arch sweep, a gash of wind, which sliced through part of the larva and went for Megumi. He wasted no time. Locating the seed he found it was in the things head. Preparing to launch of the branch, he felt and heard a 'snap' and suddenly he was going down.

The demon larva, which had been planning to ram him head on, was suddenly impaling itself on the broken branch, its seed getting destroyed in the process. Kyo hit the ground with a roll to avoid injury and looked back up, ready to take the demon on... only to find it already fading.

Megumi clutched at his chest, the pain of the demon larvae dying getting to him even more so this time now that he was closer. In revenge, he began to torture Kay even more. Her screams of agony echoed, and her form began to shimmer.

"Kay!" Titania and Snow shouted, flying towards Megumi at top speeds. He merely swung out an arm and sent the two flying. Rin had stood and now raised her hand. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and seemed to glow black from anger and pain. A beam of shadow the size of her palm shot out towards Megumi, but he brought Kay's form in the way to block it. With a horrified gasp, Rin stopped, the beam disappearing before it hit Kay.

"I don't care what happens to me just kill the bastard!" Kay managed to get out in between screams of pain and suffering.

"Let her go!" Kyo had somehow gotten behind Megumi and he swung now with his sword, aiming to take his head off. Kyo's eyes were hard now, the usual humor and gentleness in them having faded away. He was furious at this guy for hurting Kay and all the other knights, and furious at himself for not being able to stop it sooner.

Megumi was forced to shield himself, and his disguise dropped, as well as Kay. She had gone limp, weak and feverish, and she was falling, a dead weight, unconscious, towards the ground. Rin tried to go forwards, to catch her, but was still suffering from being thrown into the tree.

"You will pay!" Megumi screeched, turning his attention to Kay once again. He held out a hand to her, but then felt a pain in his heart. There she was... The one that he wanted most. "I will kill you all, but not now. Just you wait..." he growled, fading away. Kay was still hurtling towards the ground, and just regaining her consciousness. With an effort, she slowed her decent, but was still falling.

Kyo had already begun hurtling towards her the moment she'd been freed from megumi and he caught her now. Once on the ground he unpreted with Akane. He was practically glaring at Kay.

"You IDIOT! I told you to stay put! You almost got killed." He looked to the other knights. All but Akane were injured with more than a simple scrape. Akane had got to Arika who was still staring at when Megumi had vanished. The moment she'd seen his face she'd frozen.

"Megumi...?" she breathed, feeling her heart start to break. It couldn't have been Megumi.. There must have been a mistake... It couldn't have been...

"Sis? What's wrong?" Akane asked, touching her shoulder. Akira jumped slighly.

"N-nothing... I just... was suprised. I didn't think we'd see the Prince this early." she lied and turned away. "We need to get back to Leafiana quickly."

Kay curled up in Kyo's arms.

"Bubbles was yelling at me too," she said. Her voice was hoarse from the screaming she had been doing. Her body flickered, as if something was wrong with her Leafe, and she was shivering uncontrollably. Her fever had spiked again. "But I just couldn't let you guys go to battle without me... I can't make you fight when I'm not there..." Her tone was mournful. "I can't ask you to fight while I'm just lying in bed..." Turning to Kyo, she seemed to get angry though. Her body was flickering more often now. Her trembling seemed to get worse, but weaker somehow. "Why didn't you kill him? You could have killed him right there!" Her voice was weaker too, but containing all the bite it had before, when she had first met him.

Rin looked at Kay, her eyes wide and serious, her mouth turned down into a frown.

"We need to get Kay back to Leafeania. Now." Her tone was dangerously close to breaking, and she seemed to be close to tears.

Megumi had gotten a deep cut on his arm from that sword, and he crouched in a nearby alley, holding his wounded left arm.

"Dammit..." he muttered, starting to rip pieces of his coat to bind the wound.

"You don't have to ask me to! I'm the Pretear! I'll do it no matter what! And like hell I was going to waste time on him when you needed me then!" Kyo snapped, for the first time sounding angry, but he winced and his expression softed almost instantly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be yelling at you..." he had been about to tell the girls they need to get back, her flickering was worrying him. But Rin commented on the need first. Kyo nodded. Akane went to Leafeania with everyone else, and once there she discovered that everyone was not there, Akira was missing. Akira appeared in the allyway, having followed the closest disturbance of Leafe. This close she could see that there was no mistake.

"Megumi." she whispered. Tears welled in her eyes. She took a step towards him. "Megumi." she repeated, sounding somewhere between heart broken and relieved.

Megumi looked up to see her, and he smiled a little. It was not a warm smile, but instead icy cold. His eyes held recognition, but nothing else. Shoving himself off of a wall and into a standing position, he held his arm close to his chest.

"Hello Akira," he said, infusing his voice with enough false warmth that his expression seemed to take on that warmth as well. "I'm so happy to see that you are alive and well..." A darkness seemed to envelop the alleyway, but not thick enough to be suspicious. In a few seconds, Megumi's arm was fully healed, and the nearby bricks seemed to be grey and decaying, the weeds that had cluttered the alleyway now completely dried up.

Kay flinched as he yelled at her, but then her expression became stony.

"I didn't need you!" she hissed. Rin's expression grew alarmed, and she took Kay from Kyo just as the older girl fell unconscious.

"I'm sorry Kyo-yo..." she said, then turned away and used her power to wrap Kay in a shadow cocoon to heal, and levitating her in the air. All of the other Knights surrounded Kay and put their own powers into the cocoon, and soon the dark oval was shimmering with other colors as well. Kay remained still, no thrashing or movement to signify that she was still alive. A steady heartbeat was all that was heard, and the Knights seemed comforted by this.

"Where is Akira?" Ariel asked, noticing that Akane's twin was gone. "We need her Leafe infused in this too if this is going to work..." Titania was busy creating a little enclosure for the cocoon out of vines and trees, knowing that this would help speed up the process. Snow went over to Kyo as Rin continued to maintain the cocoon, and put a hand on his arm.

"Are you okay Kyo?" she asked softly.

"I'm not injured." Kyo said quietly, his eyes on the ground. He'd screwed up again. "I need to get back home." Akane shook her head.

"I don't know." she kept to herself Akira's odd behavior. "I'll take Kyo back home, and look for Akira." she told the others, moving to Kyo and disappearing with him.

Once they were back at Kyo's parent's house Kyo did not enter the house but instead made his way to the dojo he trained at from time to time. He needed to get better, so that the girls didn't have to get hurt because of him.

Akira stopped walking towards him, the tears still welling but not falling over.

"Megumi... why?" she asked, her voice trembling. How was she supposed to fight the Prince of Disaster if he was Megumi?

Megumi smiled and shook his head, stepping closer towards Akira, but not touching her. If he did, she would fade in an instant, and that wouldn't be good for his plan.

"I am not sure how, but I know that I have wanted this power for a long time. And now I have it. I can make our lives better Akira!" he said, his eyes sparkling.

Rin looked at Snow, her eyes sad.

"I thought that Kay and Kyo were getting along well for a little while there," she said mournfully.

"I did too," Ariel agreed.

The tears spilled over.

"You're hurting people Megumi, and you'll be killing them if this continues. That wont make our lives better!" she pleaded. She wanted to hug him, but she couldn't, and it hurt all the more. She felt her sister searching for her and looked away from Megumi. If she was found with him, they might try to get Kyo back to hurt him, or ask questions of her. She looked back at him again. "Megumi please, you have to stop."

"I can't stop," Megumi said, his voice cold. He didn't want to pretend to be warm if she wasn't receptive. "I will not stop." With that, he disappeared.

"Megumi!" but he was already gone. Akira slumped to her knees and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. Megumi was her enemy. But she knew in her heart she'd never be able to seriously fight him.

"Akira what's wrong?" Akane asked, appearing beside her sister. "Akira!" Akira shook her head, unable to answer. She took several deep breaths, forcing the tears to stop falling and wiped her eyes dry.

"How is Kay doing?" Akane knew when she was being told not to ask about something. So she let it go.

"Bad, she's starting to flicker. We need your help..." Akira nodded, following her sister back to the tree house.

Kyo was sound asleep on his desk in the middle of history class. He hadn't even woken up when the teacher threw chalk at him, and so he was now being left alone. Over the past week he had running himself nearly to the ground training in every from of combat he could find at the school. As usual, he picked it up quickly but he didn't stop until he felt he was combatant at hit. This morning he'd gone for a run, practiced kendo, Judo, and Karate all before 10 in the morning. Now, and 10:30, we was dead to the world. All of his friends had noticed his odd behavior, and that he wasn't as cheerful as usual. And they were all worried.

Kay was better now. She had stopped flickering a few days back, and was now back to her old self. Luckily, it seems that there hadn't been any demon larvae attacks, or so it seemed, since she had been unconscious for most of the past week. In fact, according to Rin, there had been three more attacks while Kay had been out of commission. Scowling to herself in the mirror, she attacked her long blond hair with the hair brush again, wincing when it hit an especially bad knot. Finally, she got it out, and then put on clothes, intending to get back to work today. She was about halfway there when a chill went down her spine, and her shoes clattered to the floor.

"Girls, there are transport demons out there!" she said, pointing in the direction of the portal to Earth. Rin shot up off of the floor, where she had been playing twister with Bubbles. "We have to go get Kyo!" Kay was gone in a flash, to where she was sure Kyo was. Instead of tapping on the window, she ran into the classroom. "Kyo! Hurry! It's an emergency!" she shouted, completely interrupting the professor and drawing stares from the rest of the class. This would be the first time he had seen her since that horrible battle a week ago.

Megumi stood in the middle of a swarm of his transport demons. They looked like butterflies, sure, but they had razor sharp edges, and stole Leafe for him. He smiled and held one on his finger as the rest swarmed around him.

"This is not as efficient, but at least they'll have a harder time trying to kill you..." he said.

Kyo had woken as soon as he'd felt the demons and shot to his feet. By the time Kay burst into class he already had is backpack on his shoulder and was heading her way.

"Sorry sensei." he called, running out the door, grabbing Kay's wrist as he passed her. "It feels different from normal. What's going on?" he asked as soon as they were out the door. They could hear an eruption of chatter from the room behind them, and the sensei shouting for silence.

Kay wrested her wrist from Kyo's grasp, then ran past him.

"They are transport demons. They are more vile because they are harder to target and kill," she said. Her eyes were flint as she turned to him, holding out her hand. "We haven't the time to run there. Prete with me, and we will get there faster."

Megumi looked up as the first of the Knights arrived.

"Rin? Oh, I see. Your leader has gone to find the Pretear. I rather expected to see her again before this," he said mockingly. "Was she sick? Oh right, I nearly killed her..." His cackle was pure malice and ice, and when he looked back down at the Knights, his transport demons seemed to be readying for an attack. "I will slaughter you all, and your Pretear will find dead Knights where you are standing!" The transport demons launched themselves at the Knights, some dying instantly, but most swarming the Knights and slowly sucking their Leafe away. Ariel, Snow, and Titania fared better than the others, able to single out and kill the transport demons. Rin would have faired better, but with the transport demons blocking her view, she was unsure if there was someone outside the cocoon of them that she would hit with her ray of shadow.

Akira was distracted by Megumi being there, and she was getting drain quicker than the others because of it.

Kyo took her hand without hesitating. When they arrived he decided the best way to help the others was to make more of those things be after him. And to do that- he needed the one that was controlling them. Again he went for Megumi, swinging the Light Mace in a tight arch

Megumi conjured his own mace, and raised it in a blocking position. Swinging it, he landed a couple of hits on Kyo, mainly because Megumi had used a heavy hand and put all of his weight behind the swings. Kay cried out each time, but did not seem to be in much pain as far as bleeding went.

Kyo cursed himself softly and then did something that was unorthodox and could almost be considered cheating. He waited till Megumi was preparing to swing again and threw the mace at him. With Megumi distracted by the mace, Kyo rushed forward, grabbed his arm and slammed it down over his own shoulder, pulling Megumi forward as he did so- and right into an elbow that was jerked back into his gut. This was followed almost simultaneously bu Megumi being tossed hard over Kyo's shoulder.

Megumi landed hard on his back, a groan of pain escaping him as the transport demons covered him completely and then caused him to disappear. Kay unpreted from Kyo once she was sure that Megumi was gone, and then looked at him.

"I didn't know that you had moves like that Kyo, that was amazing!" she said, then turned to the others, going from one to the other to make sure that none were severely injured.

Akira had winced slightly when she saw Megumi land, and it took effort not to call out to him. This was becoming more and more of a problem if she couldn't even keep her heart stable on who she should be siding with...

Kyo blushed when she complimented him. It had been the first time that she'd ever said anything positive about him like that. He followed her checking on the girls, but made it to Akira first. He looked at her, worried.

"Akira, are you alright, do you need help standing?" he asked, offering his hand to her. Akira looked up at him. Kyo was so kind and caring. He wanted nothing but to help everyone that he could. And she'd been more worried about their enemy then him. She felt ashamed of herself and looked away, unable to meet those open, trusting eyes.

"I'm alright. It looks worse than it is." she assured him, stuggling to her feet on her own. She wobbled a bit and when Kyo caught her she felt tears spill over onto her cheek.

"Akria! You're not fine! I'm sorry! Did the way I caught you hurt?" Kyo asked, panicking in his adorable way.

Kay looked over at Kyo, then went over when she saw that Akira was crying.

"What happened?" Her tone was accusing, but not of Kyo. Looking at Akira, Kay was trying to scan her to see if she had gotten any injuries. Kay ignored her own minor bruises.

Akira shook her head.

"I'm fine, I'm just feeling out of it. I'll see you all at home." and she vanished.

Kyo's expression grew troubled.

"Is it just me or is Akira acting a bit... off...?"

"It worries me..." Kay said, her own expression troubled as she peered off into the sunset. The rays of light glinted off of her golden hair, and her entire form seemed to shimmer with the light. "Kyo, go home. I don't want your parents getting angry with you." Kay said this in a bossy sort of tone, then turned to the others. "Okay girls. We need to get dinner and everything ready." Rin smiled and started dancing around with Bubbles.

"Yay party~!" she said happily.

Bubble echoed the chant just as happily. Kyo was a bit disappointed that he wasn't invited to the party but was better mannered than to ask for an invitation.

"Alright. You girls be careful." he gave a playful salute before setting off at a light run. He'd use this as a cool down and a chance to think through strategies again. Physical attack worked well against that guy... though he didn't like fighting another person much. wasn't there a way to settle this without having to kill another human?

Kay disappeared back to Leafeania, and then went into her room. She would not be joining the party. She was still worn out from a week ago when she had nearly faded. Sighing, she lay on her bed and started to fall asleep.

Feeling bad for the fact that Kyo had been forced to leave on his own Akane appeared before him.

"Come on. You're our Pretear, a party for us is a party for you." she told him, smiling. Kyo smiled back.

"Thanks Akane." And off to Leafeania they went. Once there Kyo looked around the room. "Where did Kay go?"

"She's not feeling well still so she went to rest." Bubbles told him, beaming. "Hi Kyo-yo!"

"Aww, sad Panda." he said, completely unaware of the catastrophe this phrase was about to incur. Bubbles and Rin stopped, there expression blank.

"Sad panda?"

"Yeah, it's an expression when something is sad or unfortunate." Kyo explained.

They stared at him, looked at each other, then back at him, heads tilted. And then they eyes went wide, and tears started to well.

"Th-that's so sad..." and then they were sobbing. "Poor PANDA!" Kyo was frozen confused and shocked.

Kay was startled awake when the two shouted panda, and she came to the door of her room, rubbing her eyes and trying to figure out what was going on. Seeing the two crying, her eyes widened.

"What happened?" she asked. Rin managed an answer.

"S-sad... PANDA!" she sobbed, holding onto Bubbles for dear life. Kay looked around, and caught Kyo's guilty stare.

"You broke them! FIX THEM NOW!" Her tone promised utter destruction if he did not figure out how to make them feel better.


	7. Chapter 6

"I- but-" he looked to Akane and grabbed her wrist, he was always careful not to take their hands and pret by accident. "Take me home!" Akane obeyed and they ended up outside his parents how.

"Wait here." Kyo then took off like a bat out of hell. He returned minutes later with something in a bag. They went back to the tree house and Kyo pulled out a pair of panda stuffies. He shoved them into the sobbing Bubbles and Rin's hands. "See? They're not sad." he told them, panting. "They're cute and happy."

Rin took her panda bear and looked at it, then at Rin, and back at it.

"Happy panda! I shall name you George!" she said happily. Kay looked at her in astonishment, then back at Kyo.

"Never, EVER, say that again," she growled.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just an expression. I didn't think anything like this would happen." Kyo tried to defend himself, looking almost like a beaten puppy as Kay growled at him.

Kay cast him a last glare before returning to her room. Her face had turned ashen during the whole confrontation. It was rather clear that she was still suffering, but she tried her hardest to hide it from everyone, not wanting to appear weak in front of them.

Kyo watched after her for a moment and then followed her, knocking on the door.

"You know Kay. No one is going to blame you or think less of you if you just take it easy until you're 100% again. In fact, i think you'd make everyone else feel relieved. They- we all worry about you Kay. So please, just rest for a while..."

Opening the door only enough to peer through with one eye, Kay looked up at Kyo.

"You worry about me?" she asked quietly. Rin and Bubbles were happily playing with their pandas.

Kyo gave her a 'what kind of question is that?' look.

"Of course I worry about you Kay. We're partners in all of this." he smiled at her. "So, will you stay still now and rest properly?"

"I'm rested enough. I won't stay. I can fight with you guys." Kay said this all, snapping at him as she did. "I WILL fight with you." Her eye, the one showing through the crack in the door, had grown angry, and she glared at Kyo. "Do not presume to tell me what to do." She slammed the door shut and then lay down in the bed, glaring at the ceiling. "Who does he think he is?" she muttered angrily under her breath.

Kyo flinched when she yelled at him. Why was she so angry with him all the time? What had he done wrong? He tried hard to be better at his job. He tried to keep all the girls safe... but she hated him for all he could tell.

Kyo went to school again, doodling miserably on his notebook.

"So- who was the girl that came to see you?" one of the guys who at next to him asked.

"Someone I work with..."

"Not your girlfriend?" Kyo flinched.

"No... not a chance. She hates me."

"Then why did she come to get you so desperately?" the boy asked. Kyo was silent for a moment.

"There was an emergency at work. She had to...believe me, if she had a choice she wouldn't have come to get me." The boy fell silent. He didn't like how miserable Kyo looked while talking about that girl.

Megumi sat in his darkened office, nursing the massive pain that had come from being hit with the mace.

"Damn you Kyo! And damn you Kay!" he hissed, holding his hand up to what little light he allowed in his office. There was blood on his hand. "I will make you all pay... And I will have Akira..."

Akira quietly entered the room, minutes before class started.

"Um... Kyo- can we talk for a second?" she asked. Kyo got to his feet.

"Akira? Yeah sure." he went to her, leading her out of the class. "what's up?"

"I... I don't know what to do... I... I was hoping that you could help me..." she bit her lip.

"If there's anything i can do to help you I will."

"It's about the Prince of Darkness... I guess... I know you probably don't want to help him any..."

"I don't want to kill him if I can help it.." Kyo told her. "But I don't think there's another way..."

"There is... if you can save him from darkness."

"seriously?" Kyo asked, perking. "How."

"It's difficult... and I'm not entirely sure myself. But... you'd have to somehow bring him out of the darkness..." Akira couldn't explain why she felt that Kyo might be able to understand it. Prehaps it was just because he was so kind.

"Any idea how we can find him?"

"Yes... I think... but... I'll let you know if I find out more." she vanished, reappearing at Megumi's house. She rang the bell, feeling her heart start to hammer. She had to try. She had to try until she just couldn't try anymore.

Megumi looked up and stood, walking from his office to the front door without a limp, or trying to. Opening the door, his steely eyes seemed to soften at the sight of Akira, and he let her in, then closed the door behind him before sitting heavily on a chair.

"You came at a bad time. I was about to leave for my true home, to heal," he said. But he had infused his voice with warmth. "You are welcome to come along if you would wish to see it."

"And where might your true home be?" she asked, noting his injuries. "Kyo really did a number on you today... I'm sorry." she whispered. She didn't really mean to apologize, it just came out. She didn't want him to be hurt, and she felt terrible that she allowed it. But she knew that she couldn't stop it. He was the enemy after all...

Megumi smiled and waved a hand, letting a portal appear on the wall behind him.

"My true home is through there. Come along, and you can see," he said, limping towards the dark portal. "You don't have to apologize if you join me." His look was sly, but unable to be seen by her.

"Megumi.. I- I can't..." he voice was filled with pain. "Please, isn't there anything that I can do to make you come back?" she begged, taking his hand in both of her's. her dark eyes looking up at him filled with pain and sadness.

"No," Megumi said shortly, but stepped into the portal while still holding her hand. Looking around as he smiled to himself, he then turned to her. "Welcome to the Land of Disaster," he said, motioning to the deep indigo stone of the castle around them.

Akira shuddered slightly, and moved closer to Megumi unconsciously. His home sent chills up and down her spine, and without meaning to she sought comfort from him.

"And you live here?" she asked quietly, her cheek against his arm she was standing so close.

"It is my home," Megumi said simply, moving away from her so that he did not completely drain her in order to heal. The stone became darker around him as he drew the stored Leafe from it, and his body healed itself. Turning back to Akira, he motioned behind her. "You are here for now. The portal is closed, and we are disclosed from the view of your pathetic Pretear."

"K-kyo is not pathetic." she told him weakly. "Besides... he beat you today... calling him pathetic doesn't really help you any..." a slight smile tugged at her lips. She'd teased him lightly like that before, when they were kids at the orphanage. She wanted so badly to go back to those days... but... looking at Megumi now, she could not see how that was possible.

Megumi whirled and looked at Akira, a frightening glare on his face.

"He got in a lucky shot. Every single time, he has gotten in a lucky shot!" Megumi growled. "Your Pretear has nothing but circumstances to show for his skill, and he is nothing more than a child!" Megumi smirked and held his hand out, a tiny demon larvae seed floating above his palm. "Let us see how he does against this. And how your precious leader does as well..." he hissed. Blowing on the seed, the demon larvae was sent out into the human world. "That seed as ten times as powerful as everything that they have encountered thus far. How will your Knights fare Akira?"

Akira paled.

"Megumi no please!" she grabbed his hand. "Please call it back." she begged. She'd been easy for tears since she'd met him again, and they spilled over and down her cheeks now.

"I cannot and I will not. The seed has taken root now, and to call it back would be dangerous to me as well as the world. Your Pretear had better show his skills." Megumi's anger was felt in his tone and the rigidness of his posture. "You disgust me. Leave," he said shortly, opening a portal and shoving her in. The other side of the portal was in his home, where they had come from before.

"Megumi!" she tried to catch hold of him, but failed. She sat on the ground in his study, staring at where the portal had been, and wept. It was her fault. Because she'd teased him, hoping to reveal the cute embarrassed responses he'd had before. He truly wasn't the Megumi she had known and loved anymore. "So then why can't I stop loving him?" she asked the empty air, covering her face with her hands.

Kyo, about to dig into a lunch, choked on his noodles when he felt the demon Larva. He sighed and back up his lunch, shoving it in his back pack before rushing from the court yard. One of the girls would be there any time now to get him. He'd best be where it was less likely to cause a seen.

"Come on Kyo-yo!' Bubbles chirped, appearing beside him. "You'll be with me today if you don't mind." she smiled as sweetly as ever, despite the desperation of the situation. He took her hand, preting with her, and they went to where the Demon Larva had just appeared.

Kay was already at the site, along with the other Knights. She held a weapon in her hand, fashioned from light. Rin only had a hand held out, keeping her eyes on the demon larvae.

Bubbles explained how her weapon worked and the drawbacks of it.

"So it's effective but dangerous for others." he thought quickly, trying to figure out what to do to minimize damage. He zipped over to Kay. "I need you and the others to get him to the river. It's not too far thankfully. Just bait it over there." he was already making his way there, but keeping any eye on them in case they'd need his help.

Kay nodded and motioned to the others. They all began to dart in between the thrashing tentacles, slicing here and there at the creature, driving it back towards the water. Several times, a few of them were knocked back when not having gotten out of the way in time, but finally the demon larvae was splashing about in the water. A line of grey marked the path that had been taken by the creature, the leafe gone from where it had trod.

"Alright, now get out of the way!" Kyo shouted; prepping to use Bubble's power. As soon as the girls were clear he released the time warp.

Kay had barely made it out in time, a piece of her dress being caught in the vortex and being ripped away before she finally was clear. She watched as the demon larva was ripped to pieces and then the water with it before the vortex was closed, then looked at Kyo.

"Next time, give us more than a two second chance to get away. It's not like the demon larvae is going to go anywhere after we leave it with all the wounds we gave it," she said, her voice in a mild scolding tone.

Kyo flinched slightly.

"S-sorry... I didn't mean to... sorry.." he murmured, looking down to avoid eye contact. She was never happy with anything he did... and she seemed to simply hate him no matter what he did to try at get into her good graces... he wasn't even sure he had a good side he could fit in.

"Seriously... if any of us got caught in there it would have killed us." one of the others huffed. He wasn't sure who it was, but he didn't like that they were starting to team up against him.

"I have lunch- well class at this point Bubbles." he murmured.

"Okay!" Bubbles chimed cheerily and vanished, still preted with him.

Kay looked at the others, her expression surprised.

"I didn't think I was too hard on him, was I?" she asked, seeming to be genuinely hurt.

Akane was the first to finally answer, but mostly distractedly. Akira had never shown up.

"Not so much just them, but you usually are pretty harsh towards him." she told her. "I'm going to find Akira." she told the others, vanishing.

"Oh..." Kay looked a little crestfallen, but she shook her head, also realizing that Akira had never shown up. "Hey, I'll go look for her too. She's seemed a little off since the Prince of Disaster has shown up. I hope he hasn't done anything to her."

Megumi was sitting on his throne, and looking into a bowl of water. With it, he could see everything that was going on, and he could see Akira crying in his house in the human world.

"So weak..." he growled, his face twisted into a scowl. "You were strong before, and now you are this. Why have you let yourself go? And why are you still in my house?" With a howl of rage, he threw the bowl to the floor, shattering it. Waving his hand, he summoned another demon larvae, and sent it to his home. "Maybe your strength lies in your fear..."

Akira felt another demon laarva appear, and very close to her. She jumped to her, vanishing before it coud fully form into anything. Bubbles had dropped Kyo off and he was making his way to get his things when Akira appeared, her face tear streaked and her eyes filled with a pained kind of resolve.

"Megumi just released a demon larva in his house. Help me destory it." she told him. Kyo took a deep breath. He was tired, but Akira had never given him any kind of difficulty, and he was relying on him to help her save her friend. "Right. Let's go." he took her hand, preting with her as they vanished and reappeared at Megumi's house. "This is Megumi's place? nice." he whistled softly and then went to get the demon. Since she'd felt it as a seed it was only now that the others were able to feel it from were they were, father away. So for once Kyo was there first.

Kay looked around. This feeling... It was on the same street that she was on, and she didn't like it, not one bit. She had been listening to the light, and it had told her that it had been drained recently somewhere on this street. So she had come to this street to figure out where, but instead found a demon larvae. Running into the house where she felt the demon larvae, she found Kyo there, already preted with Akira. Looking around the house, Kay had a feeling that this is what she had been looking for when she had first stepped foot on this street. Her eyes narrowing, she stepped closer to Kyo.

"Akira, after we are done with this, I need you to stay behind and help me investigate this place. There is residual Leafe drainage from before the demon larvae even got here," she said, then launched herself into battle, not waiting for an answer. The others began arriving a few seconds later, also starting to fight right away. Kay didn't ask any of the others for help. She figured that Akira had been here first for the same reason that Kay had gotten there so quickly. So Kay only asked for Akira's help because she figured that the other girl knew what was going on in this house, at least a little bit, from further investigation.

"Ah! Archery yes! Something I already know!" Kyo declared happily. He didn't have to worry about learning on the spot how to use his weapon. He started trying to find the seed... but it was well hidden and took him much longer to find. He stayed back, giving arrow fire cover for the girls whenever he could has he searched the demon for it's seed. At last he found it. Loosing an arrow, the dang thing moved, making his shot miss. 'Fine, be that way...' Kyo though, and stated shooting to pin its movements. He was shooting rapid fire now, loosing another arrow just before the first struck its target. At last, the demon larva halted, he shot off a kill shot, destroying the seed. "Finally." he muttered. 'Thanks for the help Akira.' he thought.

'Kyo... I need your help to keep them from looking to closely into this house...' Akira told him and him alone. She unpreted with him and looked to Kay, taking a breath. "No. I won't be helping you look into this place." she said firmly.

'Must have something to do with Megumi...' Kyo though, standing beside her to back her up.

"What? Why?" Kay asked, her voice hardening. "There is something very wrong here, and I need to find out what it is." There was a slight static electricity building in the air. "And you Kyo? How can you side with her? If there is something here that will help in your fight, why would you not want to be investigating?" she asked, her voice nearly at a shriek. A lance of lightning struck just in front of Kyo's feet, singing his jeans and tennis shoes.

Kyo had been about to answer and then jumped back with a yelp.

"God Kay are you TRYING to kill me?" he demanded, his heart somewhere in his throat and about to burst. He'd have an odd 'sun burn' to explain to others now.

Kay's expression, having been shocked and horrified as she stared at the scorch mark, just crumbled. Her eyes darkened to nearly black, and she looked at Kyo, her face holding nothing but an utter depression.

"No, I am not..." she whispered and then disappeared in a swirl of deep amber light. Some Leafe from that light was sucked away into something that was in the house, but it wasn't noticed by anyone as they all looked at Kyo, and then at each other, in shock and despair.

"That was NOT the right thing to say," Titania finally said quietly. Ariel put a hand on her shoulder.

"To be fair, he didn't know, Titania," she said, walking over to Kyo and starting to heal the burn he had received from the lightning bolt. Snow sighed and shook her head, sinking down to a near sitting position and hugging her knees.

"Still. I don't think Kay is going to back for a long long time..." she said, staring at the ground. She realized the same thing that Kay had, that something was very wrong in this house. Rin looked at Bubbles forlornly, then at Kyo.

"Maybe we should explain..." she hesitantly began. "Before any of us found out who we were and why we had these powers, Kay was there. We were born to human parents, unlike the male Leafe Knights. They were born into cocoons that nourished and strengthened them until it was time to emerge as adults. Sort of like butterflies. We... We were born as human children, and as we began to hit our puberty, our powers came out. Kay was different though. Ever since her birth, she had her powers over light, but she also had an effect on weather. Her moods cause the weather to change..." Rin stopped, looking at Titania, who nodded and continued to explain things to Kyo. Snow was investigating the room silently.

"Kay's parents turned her out onto the streets before she turned five, and she had to learn to fend for herself, and how to do everything, how to control herself. When she finally had a job and was able to go to school, she met a boy. He was everything to her, her world... One night, they were on a walk, and some thugs started to move in on them. Daisuke stepped up to protect her, and only got tossed to the side instead. Angered that the thugs had hurt him, she lashed out, and lightning began to rain down on the alleyway that they had been pushed into." Titania stopped, unable to say more. Speaking up from beside Kyo, Ariel finished the story.

"Kay still hadn't had a perfect hold on her powers then. I don't think that she does even now... But she is able to control it enough that she doesn't hit anyone. This is the closest I've seen it get to a friend or ally in a long time." Ariel stepped back, done healing Kyo. Looking up at him, she sighed sadly. "She wasn't able to do that back then. Daisuke got hit, and she held him in her arms as he died. That last thing that he said was that he hated her for what she was, even though she'd been honest with him from the beginning. She was just a pity date to him..." Ariel's eyes shimmered with tears. "She had found Titania and I by then. It took us two weeks to find her after that, and then it was another year before she told us the story. By then, all of us were together, and we all heard the story." Snow spoke up from the corner of the room, still investigating.

"If she seems harsh, it's because she's trying to iron. She doesn't want to be hurt like that again." Looking up, Snow was holding something in her hand, but she slipped it into her pocket without anyone noticing. "Now... Now she's going to retreat into herself and we won't see her for a few days. Maybe longer," she added sadly. "Like Ariel said though, it's not your fault. You didn't know. I don't think that Kay has ever forgiven herself for Daisuke..."

It was easy to see that Kyo felt absolutely terrible for what he'd said by this point. His eyes were even a bit moist. He blinked rapidly and his expression hardened with resolve. He closed his eyes, focusing all his attention of Kay, like he had when she was sick. He was getting better and better at locating leafe and his Knights, and he found Kyo within moments.

"Can someone take me to school?" he asked. She was at the bridge again. He'd be able to get to her within 5 minutes if he ran. Akira took him.

"I'm sorry... it's because I made her angry by refusing..." Kyo shook his head.

"You're trying to protect something precious to you right? It's important you don't let Kay bully you." he ruffled her hair, getting a faint smile. "If anyone can help Kay I'm sure it's you Kyo." she told him, and vanished.

'I kind of doubt it. But hopefully i can smooth things over enough that she was vanish on us.

He made it to the bridge soon after, and found Kay standing in the pouring rain yet again. Carefully he leaned against the railing.

"I'm a jerk." he stated. "Taking my own frustration out on you like that." he wasn't looking at Kay, but looking at the water below. "I don't think you know how amazing you are Kay. To have a power like you do, and have so much control over it. I can't even imagine having to burden of influence over the weather, yet you manage to keep it so well under control." He smiled slightly. "Even when you do loose it a bit and lightning strikes, somehow you manage to keep it from hitting me every time. You're amazing Kay. There's no one else in the world I think that could do something like that."

"It's why I didn't want to find you in the first place," Kay said. Her voice was hoarse. It was evident that she'd been crying, her eyes red from the tears. The darkness that had replaced the amber in her eyes was still there, and it looked like she had been standing in the rain for hours instead of only three or four minutes. "I can't be trusted around people..." She sighed, sinking to the ground, her back against the railing of the bridge and her arms wrapped around her legs. She rested her forehead on top of her knees, and her entire posture seemed to be one of utter dejection. "I swore I wouldn't do this again... And here I am doing it..." A shudder ran through her, as if she had started to cry again. "I'd like to be alone right now Kyo..." She looked up and gave him a sad smile, tears trickling down her face. "I'm sorry..." Disappearing in a flash of deep amber light, the rain was suddenly gone too. She reappeared in the deepest part of Leafeania, alone in the top of a tree. It started to rain there, which was highly unusual in Leafeania. Sobbing quietly, she curled up in a ball and lay there on the thick branch, her heart aching.


	8. Chapter 7

Megumi chuckled, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction in the fact that the leader had broken, crumbled like a dying wall.

"That was entertaining."

The demon larva were getting harder. Thankfully he didn't fully have to rely on luck anymore. Kyo was getting use to the work as Pretear. He trained every day for it, but he could feel that he was starting to wear out. Not physically so much as emotionally. It didn't really help that some of the girls seemed to be picking up where Kay left off in bullying him. Akira was the only that hadn't become snippy with him. He'd even gotten yelled at by Bubbles. Who for some reason told him "My name isn't 'Bubbles' dammit! It's Setsuna!" Of course Rin called her Bubbles and she was Bubbles again... then he'd called her Sestuna and she'd gotten all sad about how 'mean' it was to call her that name instead of Bubbles. he was wondering if prehaps she had a multiple personality disorder that he didn't know about.

"WAKE UP KYO!" Akane snapped as Kyo bearly blocked an attack. He could tell that Akane and still taken damage just from the impact of it though.

"Sorry. I'm trying here."

"Well try harder! You're going to get us killed otherwise." she snapped. Suprisingly, Akane was the most aggressive to him. He had a feeling she was taking out the sudden distance between her sister and herself and the comparative closeness he now had with Akira out on him. But still...

"Sorry." he murmured, dodging out of the way rather than risking getting an impact blow again. He'd apologized more since he met these girls than he had in his entire life it seemed. Finally he found the opening in the larva's attacks that let him get in for the attack he needed on the seed, destroying the larva.

Akira unpreted with him, a bit bruised. Most of the other girls did not however make it out with mere bruises. Several had lacerations.

"Seriously, what the hell is going on lately?" Akane muttered angrily. Akira sighed.

"I'll take you home." Akira told him. She had been the only one to do so lately, since it gave them a chance to talk about Megumi. Akira watched her sister scuff at this and vanish. 'This is tearing our team apart.' she thought, vanishing with Kyo. They were in his apartment then, and he collapsed on the bed. "Have you seen your friend lately?"

"No... I don't think I should anymore either." she told him. "Not with how it's making things." Kyo glanced at her from his face down position.

"You should do what you think is right, not convenient." She smiled.

"You're sweet. It's a wonder you don't have a girlfriend." Usually mention of a girlfriend got a sad sigh from Kyo, but for the first time he felt a shiver run up his spine. It actually surprised him a bit, but he discarded the reaction as a tried response.

"Yeah- never found the right girl I guess." he gave his typical response and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly. Akira sat down in the chair of his room, watching him for a minute as she thought.

'Do what I think is right huh?' she made her choice then and vanished, going to Megumi's home.

Megumi opened his eyes and reappeared in the human world, just in time to answer the doorbell, opening the door to let Akira in.

"Hello my dear..." he said softly. Looking at her, he noticed a difference in how she held herself. "I see that you have something to say. What is it?"

Kay, meanwhile, was done brooding. She had figured it all out, her feelings, her memories, her possible future. And she could feel something happening. Something wasn't quite right. Instead of going to Kyo, as she knew that she should have done, she went to the tree house that she shared with the girls. Despite having spent a week in the wilderness, Kay didn't look or smell too offensive. Her hair, normally in soft curls, hung into her face, a mess of frizz. Her skin was pale, and she had large dark circles under her eyes. The normal amber colour in her eyes was back, not the ebony they had been before. It was obvious that she hadn't eaten while she was gone, as she looked thinner, and a little feverish despite her being pale. She sneaked to her room and grabbed a change of clothes and showered before calling all the girls to the living room. Frowning as she noticed that Akira wasn't there, she suddenly realized that there was something horribly horribly wrong. She ignored the need for food and drink, knowing that she needed to concentrate on this first.

"Rin, go get Kyo. We need to go to that house again," Kay said. Rin popped up to a standing position and saluted, then disappeared in a flash of shadows. The others looked at Kay, questions and concern for her in their eyes. She ignored their concern. "I feel like something is going to happen there, and we must be there to prevent it... Or to kill whomever it is..." she added softly, mostly to herself. The others disappeared in their own respective swirls of colour, then Kay herself disappeared to the house, the amber colour of her light once again what it once had been.

"Kyo-yo!" Rin said cheerfully, popping into his room and tapping him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry to wake you from your nap, but Kay-kay says that something is very very wrong at the house we were at the other day!" She pulled his blankets off of him and giggled. "Come on Kyo-yo! We shouldn't keep Kay waiting!"

Kay sighed, tapping her foot and looking at her watch.

"We can't wait any longer. Everyone, move in," she said, and started to move towards the back door herself. Kicking it open, she leaped in, and was met with a horrifying scene. It appeared to her as if the Prince of Disaster had captured Akira and was now draining her leafe. "You will die here and now Prince! I don't care that the Pretear isn't here!" She flung what looked like a blast of light at Megumi, and was rewarded with something even more horrifying: a wave of sound sending that Knife of Light straight back at her. It embedded itself into her shoulder, causing her to yelp before she gritted her teeth in pain. Megumi smiled as he watched his new servant rise, Akira in all her darkened glory. Kay gritted her teeth again and a flash surrounded her hand, dying away to reveal a deadly looking sword made of light. "Titania, you and the others keep AWAY. I will kill this traitor myself." Titania stepped forward to protest.

"Kay, you aren't strong enough right now," she said softly, so that only Kay would hear. Kay shot Titania a glare so fierce that the other girl was afraid that the weather would let loose again, but instead, only thunder rumbled overhead. Titania was amazed, Kay had this much more control over herself in the time that she had been gone? Nodding though, Titania stepped back, motioning for the others to follow her. Kay stepped forward, her sword held at the ready, and glaring at Akira.

"How dare you..." she hissed.

Akira met Megumi's eyes squarely.

"I've come to join you." she told him. "I want to make you happy. And if this is what I would have to do, then that's what I will do." she told him. Kyo groaned. He's head was pounding, his eyes hurt, and he felt like he'd been hit by a truck. But the girls were needing him, and so he had to go. he didn't even really hear the bit about Kay being back. They transported, just in time to see Kay facing off against a ... different... Akira. Akira faced her calmly.

"Leave now Kay." she told her.

"A-akria?" Kyo asked, obviously very confused. "What's going on?"

"I'm following you advice Kyo. I'm doing what I think is right. I am Megumi's ally now."

'Megumi. I know that name... megumi...' Akane thought, her mind racing but unable to hold much. She was shocked at hurt by her twins betrayal.

Kay growled and took a step forward, raising her sword slightly.

"I will not leave. I will kill you, and then kill Megumi too. And you Kyo, what the hell took you so long?" she hissed at him. "A Pretear should be able to notice that one of his Knights has left him." Megumi started to chuckle, and then to laugh outright.

"They still call you Pretear?" he gasped between bouts of laughter. "That is the single most gayest thing I've ever heard! And here I thought that you and Kay would be getting together!" Kay stiffened at this and then launched herself over Akira and took a stab at Megumi. "Ah, no, I don't think that it's time for this battle yet. Maybe soon, but not yet." He grabbed Kay and threw her into a wall, draining some of her leafe while he was at it, then took hold of Akira, and took her with him into the dark portal that lead to his castle in the land of disaster. Kay was left blinking and shaking her head, swaying a little from dizziness.

"That could have gone better..." she muttered, then looked at Kyo. "What took you so long?" she asked angrily.

Kyo drew himself up and with all the confidance in the world and declared,

"You're just jealous." he seemed completely serious too.

Kyo flinched at all of Kay's accusations of him.

"I- I was sleeping..." he murmured, his eyes kept down.

Kay was about to respond when she fell over.

"Ouch..." she groaned. Rin unpreted from Kyo and went over to Kay, helping her up.

"Sorry Kyo-yo..." Rin said apologetically. "I'll take Kay-kay and you go home and rest. I could feel your headache while we were preted. It was painful..." Rin winced and then shook her head. "I think the headache might actually be from losing Akira, but I'm not sure. Go home and rest Kyo-yo. We'll see you tomorrow." With that, Rin disappeared with Kay, and all of the other girls disappeared too, save Snow. She walked up to Kyo and smiled a little.

"Hey, I'll take you home. Come on," she said, then took Kyo's hand and disappeared with him back to his apartment. She didn't prete with him, as preting only happened in a time of battle and need for the Pretear. "Sleep well, and we will see you tomorrow. Perhaps Kay will be feeling better and you too, and we will all get along again. I swear, without Kay, we just all fall apart." Laughing a little, she disappeared, leaving Kyo alone with his thoughts.

The next day dawned clear and bright, and one of Kyo's friends from school was waiting for him when he walked into the classroom. She pounced and started asking him questions, being concerned for his health.

"Hey, Kyo, what's wrong? I know that you and all of those girls have been hanging out, but nine girlfriends? That's a bit much... I think it's making you sick..." she said, not knowing the disaster that was about to occur.

Kyo shuddered at the thought of dating all nine of them at once. Even one of them seemed like it would be hell. He'd realized that last night when he'd been left alone. Kay was the main problem he had. She more or less hated him, only dealing with him because he was the Pretear. And he couldn't argue with her, or stand up against her. Because if he did, she would get angry, and the girls would follow their leader's mood and be angry at him too. Now with Akira, his one alley save maybe sometimes Rin and Bubbles, was gone and he was left alone with demons.

"I don't have a single girlfriend and I don't want one." he told his friend quietly, his voice shaking slightly, eyes hollow. No, if it meant being around a girl for prolonged times, he didn't want anything to do with a girlfriend. He was burned out as it was from dealing with the knights and their expectations of him to be the perfect Pretear.

Akira sat on the edge of a counter in Megumi's home, looking at her hands. She felt different, and she wasn't sure she liked it. But she wouldn't leave Megumi by himself. She would be his ally when he had no one else. Even if it meant losing her life, it was worth it for Megumi alone. Sighing she dropped her hands into her lap. Kyo was probably disappointed in her. And now he'd have to deal with Kay's wrath or it. She hadn't really meant to get him into trouble. Hadn't thought about her words doing that until after she'd said them. She'd just been trying to explain herself to him at least. Because of all those she'd been working with, he was the one she felt might understand her.

"And here I was thinking about asking you out to dinner," Kyo's friend teased, giggling a little as she hugged him slightly. Just then, Kay showed up, and after sending a glare Kay's way, Kyo's friend walked off.

"Hey Kyo, I wanted to apologize. Maybe you would like to go somewhere with me?" she asked, shyly almost.

Megumi went up to Akira and put his hands on her shoulders.

"What are you thinking about my darling?" he asked, sweetening his words. She couldn't see that his eyes were still ice.

Akira started to turn to look at him but stopped. He'd done it before, made his voice sweet while his eyes remained cold. She didn't want to see the ice. So instead she kept her eyes down cast and faced him, hugging him, her head on his chest. "About you." she told him. "As I have for so long." she closed her eyes. It was the right thing to do. To be by Megumi's side.

"I'm glad. I've thought about you all these years too," Megumi said softly, the words still sweet, but a slight venom becoming attached.

Kay sighed, then shook her head.

"Maybe I shouldn't even try though. I always seem to go back to the beginning, every time. Maybe I'm just scared of myself, of what I'm feeling." She sighed, looking at Kyo. "No, you don't have to go anywhere with me, but I do apologize for all those times I've almost killed you. I have more control over my powers now, I promise. You won't have to worry about that anymore." With that, Kay disappeared. Kyo's teacher walked up to him just then, and looked at him closely, then motioned for him to follow her into the classroom.

"Kyo, you seem exhausted. And your grades are suffering too. I know that normally you are an average student at best, but now your grades are well below your standards. What is wrong? Was it that girl? She doesn't seem like the type of girl for you for one thing. But I've heard rumors of you with eight other girls too." The concern in the teacher's face and tone was thick enough that Kyo might have been able to cut it with a knife. The teacher kept on talking, unaware of the heat rising in Kyo's face. "You know Kyo, two-timeing nine different girls is bound to get you in trouble. You can't keep them all happy."

Kyo paled. Wait... he worked with them, and at least use to hang out with them.. did that qualify them as his girlfriends? Everyone seemed to think they were all his girlfriends... he was slow about this sort of thing... so maybe he'd missed something and he was dating them... panic began to rise and he found it difficult to breath.

"No- no I don't want a girlfriend! I don't want one, let alone nine!" he was trembling, his exasution was fuddling his ability to think clearly, and was sending his emotions haywire. "Please don't make me date them. I don't want a girlfriend! I don't want one!" he didn't even know that his voice broke with unshed tears. "I don't want one! Girls are vindictive and cruel! They they-" he couldn't see, his vision was blurring. "They do horrable things whenever I mess up, which is all the time according to them... they're never happy with anything! I don't want to have to do this anymore! It's not my fault! I can't keep up with their demands!" he'd started to cry now.

The teacher was astounded. She had never seen Kyo break down like this ever.

"Oh dear... What did I say?" she thought frantically. "Kyo, Kyo! Calm down!" she said huriedly, patting his back. Kay, meanwhile, was on her way back. She had decided that a simple apology was just not enough. She wanted to tell Kyo how she felet about him, but then she heard his sobs and burst into the room.

"Kyo?" she gasped. Looking at the teacher, her eyes narrowed. "What happened?" she asked. The teacher looked bewildered.

"I only told him to be careful!" she said. "Having too many girlfriends is going to wear him down and get him in trouble. He just suddenly broke down!" Kay shook her head.

"He doesn't have any girlfriends, only friends that have treated him badly and are very sorry for it," she said softly. Turning to Kyo, she glanced again at the teacher. "I'll take him home." She picked Kyo up, feeling quite horrible when he flinched. "Well, I had decided to tell you how I felt, but here you are, and not in a good state of mind," she sighed.

Kyo pulled away from her completely.

"I-I'm fine... I can get back home on my own." he told her, and hurried from the room. Last thing he wanted was to be alone with Kay. She'd just yell at him again for being a panzy or something. Kyo ran to his parents home, the exercise doing little to clear his head. By the time he got there he was about ready to collapse from exhaustion, and while he was no longer crying, his eyes- so full of life and cheer- were hollow.

Hayate stood, looking at Kyo, then turning his concerned gaze on Himeno, who was slowly becoming frantic.

"What's wrong?" he asked his son, not expecting the answer he was going to get.

"I don't want a girlfriend anymore. But they said that I had 9 of them. Does that mean that because I work with them I have to date them? But they are always angry with me, and they yell and blame, and I can't seem to get everything right so they always get angry with me about it and I don't want to have to date them because even if they are the good guys girls are evil and vindictive and mean and they yell and pick and-" he was babbling and going in loops with his babbling. Finally he stoped trying to explain when he felt himself hyper ventilating again. "don't tell them I'm here. I'm going to sleep now." he told him parents and wobbled his way up the stairs. He made it to his bed and passed out, going past a point of deep sleep and into a near coma. He was so tired with all the physical and psychological strain he'd been under lately.

Hayate gave Himeno a dumbfounded look, then suddenly understood.

"I need to talk to those girls," he said, disappearing in a flash of light blue light. He reappeared in Leafeania, right in front of Kay, who looked miserable. She had just got done telling the girls about what had happened to Kyo. The others looked a little upset too, but not as much as her. She looked at Hayate and sighed.

"I was just about to ask Bubbles to wipe Kyo's memories of us yelling at him..." she said softly. "I feel horrible for what we did..." Hayate could see that she meant it, and then sighed.

"At least try to be nicer to him from now on," Hayate said. Kay nodded.

"I have been trying," she admitted. Hayate smiled. He could tell what was going on in her mind, and he was grateful. When he first met her, she had been harder, a little brittle. Now she was flexible, and for the better.

Bubbles got into his room and felt rather sad at seeing the state he was in. He'd really cracked under all the stress... she was going to have a hard time taking away only memories of them yelling at him... she'd probably have to make him forget far more than that. She tried to remember the last time he'd seemed himself... probably just after they'll lost Akira... so she'd take up to that point... and possible a bit more if he was still like this.

She returned later to tell the others it had gone well, and he was resting peacefully now.

"I took from when Akira left us on." she told them. "I tried to leave some of the things he's done that didn't involve us... but it would have left to many gaps. it was easier for him and me to do it this way."

"That's good," Kay said softly, more relief in her voice than she was conscious of. Snow gave her a small look, then looked at Titania and grinned.

"I'm glad that Kyo's going to be better now," Ariel said with a grin, trying to smother some giggles. Kay frowned in confusion, but shrugged, motioning for the others to go off to bed. It was past midnight. Going to be alone, she paused and turned to Bubbles.

"Thanks," she said with a sincere smile.

A few weeks later, they were all hanging out and having a picnic, Kyo having come along as well. The day was bright, and everyone was having fun. Rin had enticed Bubbles and Kyo to play tag with her, and was now trying to get Kay to play along.

"Please Kay?" she wheedled, and Kay sighed, looking up from her book.

"Must I?" she asked. Rin pouted, then looked at Kyo and Bubbles, wanting their help.

Kyo had had a shock when he got to school afterwards. Everyone was very very worried about it. And he had no idea why. And then there were classes.. he was more lost than usual. Then there was training.. evidently he'd already become very good at just about everything.. he didn't even know why though. Some things he'd not even starting doing far as he knew... Of course the biggest shock was finding out that weeks had passed from his last memory on the calender. He asked Bubbles but she evaded the question. The girls were all acting weird too. they were... nice to him... After a few days he decided to give up on trying to figure out what had happened. he just excepted it and moved on as if his time hadn't been skipped.

At the picnic he grinned at Kay with his usual goofy sweet and friendly air. "Come on Kay. I'll be fun." he told her, laughing as Bubble's jumped onto his back, getting him to play with her.

Kay finally started to smile and began to laugh as well as Rin started to tickle her. Shoving the younger girl away, she marked the spot in her book and jumped up.

"Okay," she said. Rin squealed in delight and dashed in the opposite direction.

"Newcomers are IT!" she shouted behind her, and laughed as Kay began to chase after her. Ariel and Titania had joined in by now, and Snow as well. Kay being the last to join, was IT.

"I'll get you Rin!" Kay shouted, making it sound like she was threatening, but she was really having fun. She was as fast on her feet as Titania, and looked graceful as her blonde hair flew out behind her. Suddenly she stopped, and looked around. Rin came back to her and was dancing around barely out of her reach.

"Kay-kay, being IT means chasing someone til you tag them," Rin scolded playfully. Kay frowned and shook her head, motioning for quiet. The park had fallen silent, and not the kind of silent that was peaceful. Rin looked around. "Where have the birds gone Kay-kay?" she asked.

Kyo had found himself watching her, thinking how pretty she was. He'd stopped short at that thought. He'd found girls pretty... but it had never really been anything. He thought his mom was pretty too. Then he noticed Kay stop. He heard what she had. Silence. Looking around he wondered what had caused it. Akane had been watching, not feeling like joining in. She missed her sister terribly. Now she was also trying to figure out what had happened. Something was very wrong. Bubbles went to Rin and hugged her, looking worried and a bit scared.

"Hello my dears..." said a velvety smooth voice, and Kay whirled, seeing Megumi right behind her. "How come Akira and I weren't invited? I'm sure we could have used the fresh air." His grin was cruel as Akira stepped out from behind him.

"Rin! Get back!" Kay hissed, starting to back away herself. Megumi advanced as quickly as she went, seeming to be faster as he drew closer to her. A swarm of transport demons seemed to come out of the small copse of trees behind the two.

"Not hospitable?" Megumi asked, his cruel grin still in place. Kay was not paying attention to where she was going, and tripped over a root that was in her way. Landing hard on the ground, she grunted, and shook her hair out of her face. Gasping, she realized that Megumi was crouched in front of her. "But I so want to play..."

"Okay! We're playing 'IT' right now." Kyo said, coming over. He pulled Kay up, moving her slightly behind him in the process. He was smiling like a friendly idiot at Megumi- much like a puppy might wag its tail at someone who was known to hit it- in a hopes that this time would be different. But he was completely serious about letting Megumi play. "Hey Akira."

Akira was trying not to laugh. Leave it to Kyo to totally throw this meeting off kilter from what EVERYONE was expecting. She was careful not to look at her sister. She didn't want to see a hurt expression on her face.

Kay was giggling, not quite able to keep the noise from escaping past her hands, which were clamped over her mouth. Megumi was giving Kyo a dumbfounded look, and then shook his head.

"You take the fun out of this Kyo," he muttered angrily. Holding a hand to his head and massaging his temples briefly, he sighed, and then looked Kyo straight in the eye. "You do realize that if I touch any of them, I take their Leafe? Observe." Reaching behind him, he brushed a hand against Akira's shoulder. Her skin grew grayish where he touched, and Kay's giggles died. Her eyes simmered with anger as thunder rumbled overhead. Megumi smiled. "That got a better reaction." Looking at Kyo once again, he shrugged and turned away. "Maybe next time I'll actually do something. You've ruined my good mood this time." Walking back the way he had come, Megumi left, with Akira by his side. Silence descended for a few seconds, and soon birds began chirping again, a stream babbling merrily somewhere distant. Kay shook her head, knowing that Megumi would be back with a vengeance, maybe sending a demon larva later. She got a mischievous grin on her face, and tapped Kyo on the shoulder.

"Thanks," she said, and then laughed. "Also, you're IT!" She took off in a random direction, zig-zagging and running away from Kyo.

"Kay, you forgot to say no tagbacks!" Rin shouted, laughing. She was tickling Bubbles, trying to get the other girl to give her a piggy-back ride as they ran.

Kyo's smile had faded when he saw what he'd done to Akira, but he refused to let it worry or bother him. Akria had decided to this because it was what she'd decided what the right thing. She was smart so she knew what she was doing. When Kay tagged him he laughed and went after her. Since she hadn't said no tag backs he intended to make her it again.

Akira followed after Megumi, and once they were away from the others she asked.

"Anything I can do to improve your mood?" she didn't like him being unhappy.. but something in the way that that had transpired between Megumi and Kyo had given her hope that Megumi could still be saved. But she knew better than to express that. So far, Megumi didn't think he needed saving.

"I've left them a little surprise," Megumi chuckled. "I hope that Kyo is fond of his parents. For they are part of it." Laughing, he turned to Akira. "My mood wasn't ruined in the least. Kyo is an interesting sort of creature, and to laugh in the face of danger like that, I admire him. Both of us could have killed the other right there." Grinning, he rubbed his hands together. "I think that I have a worthy adversary."

Kay kept running, and glanced back occasionally. Kyo seemed to be even faster than her! She laughed in delight, not having felt this good in a while.

Kyo caught up with her and reached out to catch her, but Bubbles tried to 'save' her, and he tripped, he ended up colliding with her and grabbed her as they went down, rolling so he hit the ground first, but then they were at a hill and rolled several times to the bottom. In the end he was atop her and groaned.

"Ow..."

"His mother use to be the Pretear, and his father the Leafe Knight of wind." Akira told him. She wasn't sure he knew that or not. "I hope you calculated that into your plan."

"Oh I did," Megumi said with a grin. "I did indeed..."

Kay opened her eyes after a few seconds, having closed them while rolling to prevent the nausea usually induced by spinning round and round. Blinking in surprise, and then blushing, she lay completely still. Hearing Kyo groan though, she tried to get out from underneath him, to see if he was okay. In her movements, her lips brushed against his, and in an instant of shock, she seemed to blush brighter.

"Um..." she stammered, finally getting out from underneath him, "Are you okay Kyo?" She noticed a bruise starting to form on his arm, and a lump on his head. Wincing in sympathy, she tried to help him into a sitting position, her face still slightly red from blushing.

Kyo'd felt her lips, and he was blushing as well.

"Yeah. I'm fine. How about you?" he asked, unable to look at her.

"Well, you protected me pretty much, so I don't really have any damage..." Kay said, looking closely at the bruise. Kyo seemed to be cut too, and she frowned. "You, however, are bleeding. Come on, we can get a bandage if we go back to the blanket. There's some bandages in the picnic basket, just in case." Kay looked up at him, earnest in trying to help.

It was weird. He wasn't going to complain, but out of everyone Kay had changed the most. She didn't yell at him anymore... and she as acting so... nice... He nodded, getting to his feet.

"It's really not a big deal. It looks worse than it feels." he assured her, checking his cut. It wasn't bleeding badly. More of a scrape than a cut.

Akira nodded.

"Do you wish for me to observe again?" she asked Megumi, standing behind him like a proper subordinate, her hands lightly clasped before her, eyes slightly downcast.

"I want you to engage Kay elsewhere. Kyo cannot be near him when this happens. Her strength is what would make this plan fail." Megumi nodded to himself. "Kyo would be a little too much to handle if she were nearby."

Rin came rushing towards them then, having seen them fall, and worried about their apparent inactivity.

"Kyo-yo! Kay-kay! Are you guys alright?" she asked, and Kay nodded, her face still flushed. She looked up at Kyo and then nodded again.

"We're alright. Kyo has a little scratch, that's all. Do you have any water? It would help to clean that off," she added, and Rin pulled the water bottle out that she'd stored in her pocket.

"Here!" she said cheerfully, and watched as Kay carefully poured a little onto Kyo's scratch to wash the dirt away. Taking the water bottle back, she bounced away to find Bubbles, wanting to go play on the swings now.

"There you go." Kay didn't meet Kyo's eyes, turning to go back to the picnic blanket, trying to pretend that she hadn't kissed him. "It won't get all infected now."

Soon, the picnic was over, and Kay volunteered to take the blanket and now empty basket back to Leafeania. Bubbles and Rin wanted to walk Kyo home, as did the rest of the Knights. Titania and Snow had a shift at work though, and they had to leave.

"I'll be back soon," Kay promised, having been invited over to Kyo's parents house for tea by Bubbles and Rin when Kyo mentioned having some. Getting to Leafeania, Kay set about putting the blanket into the wash and putting the dishes into the dishwasher, humming to herself.

"You're in such a good mood. It's so unlike you Kay." Akira commented from behind the other Knight. "I wonder if that will hold after Leafeania is destroyed." she hadn't brought Megumi with her, but she hoped that Kay even thinking her home was in danger would be too focused on here to think about there.

Kay dropped the glass she had just started to move from the sink to the dishwasher, and it shattered against the tiled floor. Instantly, she was in the Knight of Light's garb, glaring at Akira and in a defensive karate position.

"What do you want, and why are you here?" she growled, her eyes flashing as she stepped through the glass shards to get to Akira. The shards punctured her soft shoes, but she didn't seem to notice.

Back in the human world, Himeno and Hayate were acting much different from their usual norms. Suddenly, a chestplate seemed to sprout and envelop them, and tentacles swayed from their backs. Screams of hatred issued from their mouths as their thoughts and minds were manipulated by the demon larvae that had possessed them. Rin dropped her cup and squealed in fear before Ariel smacked her.

"Get yourself together! Come on!" she said. Rei, the Knight of Fire, was holding her hand out to Kyo, frantically trying to get him to prete with her.

"Kyo, come on!" she shouted, practically shoving her hand in his face. "We need to save your parents!"


	9. Chapter 8

Kyo stared in shock at his parents. How had this happened? He hadn't even noticed until now... he shook his head to clear it and took her hand.

"Can we do this without hurting them?" he asked, worried.

Akira jumped back from her. Her job was to distract her, nothing more at the moment.

"Didn't I just tell you?" she asked calmly. "What, are you going to try and stop me?" she had to keep reminding herself that she was doing this for Megumi. Even if he was just using her, it was worth it for Megumi. She loved him after all.

Kei growled and jumped forward, taking a swing at Akira.  
"I'll stop you no matter what you plan to do," she hissed. "You traitorous bitch!"

Rei nodded.  
"It we are very careful, we can save them without hurting them, but hurry!" she said. She grabbed Kyo's hand, preting with him in the instant that the possessed Hayate started towards them.

'Good.' Akira thought, dodging out of the way. 'I should be able to keep her busy here until Megumi's plan is finished.' she thought, parrying the next attack and returning with a swing of her own.

Kyo jumped back.

"This is the first i've actually preted with you. How does your weapon work?" he asked. he'd actually preted with her before- but it was during the time he'd forgotten.

"It's an axe. Giant axe," Rei said after a moment. "Just make sure the edge only comes in contact with the heart of the demon larva, or you might hurt your parents." She tried to sound assured. "But you can handle this. You're good at what you do," she added. "Don't worry." Meanwhile, Rin was worrying herself.

"Where's Kay-kay?" she asked Bubbles, dodging an attack and drawing Hayate away from Kyo as TItania and Snow harried Himeno.

Kay grabbed Akira's fist and launched a kick at the other girl's head, wanting nothing more than to hurt her badly.

"Why is she here?" Kay thought to herself, trying to reason some explanation out in her head.

Akira managed to avoid the main force of the kick, but she still ended up rolling several feet before getting back up. She smiled.

"Kay, you really should be careful. What will your temper do in the real world? you might kill someone again." it was a low shot- and she hated herself for saying it to her friend. But she had to keep Kay's attention on anything other than Kyo.

Bubbles shook her head.

"I don't know. She should be here."

Kyo was having a hell of a time fighting. He was terrified of hurting his parents on accident- and he kept having seriously close calls. It had been a while, but he was getting hit- or rather Rei was getting hit.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry." he kept repeating, every time she shielded him from an attack.

"It's fine," Rei gasped, recovering from the last hit. "Don't worry. Just help your parents. The core should be obvious with how the demon larvae are strapped to their chests, I think." Rei sounded rather unsure, but she wanted to help Kyo as much as she could.

"I would go get her if we had the spare moment, but this fight is hard," Rin huffed, shoving Himeno into the wall as Titania raced past her to fend Hayate off from strangling Ariel. "Also, is Akane here as well? I can't remember seeing her with us."

"She's here!" Snow called, as she fought alongside Akane.  
Kay felt her momentum slowing.

"Low Akira, really low," she snarled. "And I will NEVER kill anyone again. Not after I'm finished killing you." She launched herself at Akira, her hands like claws as she pinned the other girl to the ground, launching a series of punches at the Knight of Sound's face.

Akira threw Kay back with a blast of sound, and flinched as she heard a crack as Kay hit the wall. The blonde girl slumped to the floor, clearly unconscious. Resisting the urge to go over to her to make sure that she was okay, Akira disappeared, going back to Megumi.

"Kay is unconscious. How is this battle going?" she asked. Megumi was watching closely as Kyo defeated first one, then the other of the two demon larvae.

"Dammit!" he growled, slamming a fist onto his throne. "That should have killed him without Kay there!"

Rei unpreted from Kyo, breathing heavily.

"I think something happened to Kay," she said hoarsely, waving away Kyo's protest about her injuries. "We need to figure out where she is." Kyo sighed and nodded, closing his eyes and focusing on a random thought about Kay, a memory from earlier in the day: her hair shining in the sunlight as she laughed and played tag with him and the others. Soon, he could feel her presence, but it was so very far away, as if she were on a different world.

"She's… She's not here on Earth," was all he could say, giving a helpless look to the others. Bubbles gave Rin a slightly scared look, then looked at Kyo.

"She might be in Leafeania. We should really go check…" Bubbles said softly. Rin nodded, and the two disappeared. Rei took Kyo's hand and disappeared with him into Leafeania, and found Rin and Bubbles kneeling down next to Kay. Kyo rushed over and picked her up off the floor, taking her to the couch, and sitting down with her head in his lap in order to inspect the wound. There was a bruise forming on her forehead, to the right side. A lump was also on the back of her head, and her feet were bleeding from glass shards that seemed to be embedded there.

"What happened?" Kyo asked in wonderment, seeing bruises on her fists as well. Ariel and Titania were already working on healing her, and slowly the wounds seemed to disappear. After a few moments, Kay sat straight up, looking about wildly.

"Akira!" she hissed, starting to stand, but being held down by Kyo. She blushed brightly as she realized her position.

"Kay, what happened? You need to stay laying down for a little bit," Kyo added as Kay started to protest. Frowning, Kay told them what had happened. Kyo, in turn, told Kay what had happened while she'd been fighting Akira.

"They must have wanted to keep me distracted…" Kay muttered. Kyo gave her a confused look as he finally let her sit up. "I would have helped you guys out a lot if I'd been there. You probably wouldn't have had as hard a time of it."

"Good job!" a velvety voice echoed. A black vortex appeared in the room, and Akira stepped out of it, along with Megumi. "You guessed my plan. But now, it's time for us to finally kill you." Akira didn't seem to be too happy about that pronouncement, but she nodded, and left back into the portal. "Meet us in my castle, and then you'll be able to fight me." Kay stood up, watching Megumi leave. The portal stayed where it was, and she turned to the others.

"We've got to go. I can tell that Akira isn't happy about this whole situation. And I know I'm not." She frowned, putting her hands on her hips as the others began to protest. "And I don't want to hear anything about me being weakened already. I'll fight with you whether you like it or not." Looking at Kyo, she noted that he was standing as well.

"We've got to go. I think we can make Megumi come back," he said. He was cheerful about it, instead of sober. "And then, everyone will be happy, including Akira." Kay smiled.

"Let's go," she said, holding a hand out to Kyo. He took it, and they preted. Rin and the others dashed through the portal. Kyo, however, hesitated. "What's wrong Kyo?" she asked, her voice echoing in his mind.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he said softly, answering her out loud. After admitting this, he went through the portal, whirling when he heard it closing behind him. "A very bad feeling." Running to catch up with the other Knights, he found that they were already engaged in battle with several demon larvae and transport demons. About to join in, Kyo was cut off, hearing a cry of pain from Kay as he was caught and flung against the wall by an uprising of dark energy. "Kay, are you alright?" he asked, his cheerfulness gone, replaced by a grim determination to bring Megumi and Akira back. He heard laughter behind him.

"Asking after her? Why would you do that? You only use her power for your own good, right?" Megumi asked in a condescending tone. Kyo drew himself upright and summoned the Mace of Light.

"Never. I would never use anyone," he said, and heard a grateful sigh from the back of his mind. Why did it make him feel good? He shrugged, and focused on the fight. Megumi wouldn't come back without a fight it seemed, and he intended to give it to him.

"Coward!" Akira shouted from behind Kyo, causing him to flinch. "Kay! You are a coward! You hide behind Kyo instead of facing me again in a fair fight!" Kyo was alarmed when his Pretear uniform began to shimmer. Soon, Kay stood beside him, her face dark with controlled anger and sadness. "Kay, we have to fight together in order to defeat Megumi," Kyo said quietly. Kay shook her head.

"I believe that you can defeat Megumi without me. I need to fight Akira." She smiled a little, ignoring the tears that streaked down her face from Akira's words, and Kyo felt his heart flutter. What was this feeling? "You'll do fine Kyo," she said, then stepped forward to fight against Akira. In her hand, a sword made of light appeared, and Akira summoned a black sword. Both launched into a furious battle that Kyo could not watch, so he turned back to Megumi. Kay screamed as she blocked an attack from Akira, and stared over the locked blades. "You're right Akira, I am a coward. But I've finally learned, and my lesson was from you. You've taught me. But now I'm here to bring you back. We all miss you Akira…" Kay's voice cracked as Akira kicked her in the stomach, and then attacked her again without giving Kay time to recover. Meanwhile, Kyo was speaking to Megumi.

"Megumi, I think we shouldn't let everything get out of hand," Kyo said amiably. He smiled, trying to catch the other man off guard. "I know that you are good, and I know that you want to come back. So why don't you just come back?" Megumi scowled and waved a hand, a demon larva coming into being right beside Kyo. It lashed out and threw him against the wall. This demon larva, however, was very, very different. It drove a tentacle towards Kyo, as if to spear him through, but Kay shoved him out of the way, getting speared instead. It went through her chest, and come out the back. She coughed, blood coming up. "Kay!" Kyo hadn't seen her shove Akira back so that she could run to Kyo. He pulled her away from the demon larva, which now turned on Megumi, now being out of his control. Kyo sank to the floor, holding Kay in his arms. "Why in the world would you do that?" he asked frantically. He had never seen death before, and this was scaring him, the way her form flickered and shimmered, seeming to break away in little bits. Kay smiled weakly, her eyes staring past him, as if she couldn't focus.

"It's because I love you silly…" she whispered. "I promised myself… That I wouldn't fall for another guy… Not after Daisuke… But you were different…" Coughing, she continued, despite Kyo's pleas for her to be quiet and save her strength. "Bring Akira back if you can… And don't worry… Maybe I'll see you when we are reborn…" The last of her strength left, and she fell limp in his arms. Despite his efforts to staunch the blood flow, she was dead. A few seconds later, her form crumbled into Leafe dust, sucked up by the demon larva that was now cornering Megumi. Akira had wordlessly fallen to her knees, horrified at what had happened to Kay. Seeing Megumi's predicament now, she ran, trying to prevent the same from happening to him. Kyo stared, unseeing, at his arms, his bloodstained hands, but at a howl of anguish from Megumi, he looked up, just in time to see Akira fade away as well. A bright light surrounded him, and Kyo was in the garb of the White Pretear: a white tux with a crystalline crown, a white ear clamp on his ear, and crystalline scepter in his hand. Megumi looked up, just in time to see the demon larva disintegrate from the overwhelming outpouring of Leafe that Kyo was giving. He had tears streaking down his face, and he seemed to be giving all of himself. The world faded to white shortly after, and no one was left in that dark zone. They all were transported safely to Earth, sleeping peacefully in a meadow. Kyo soon passed out, unable to give anymore, nearly dead from all that he had given.

Kay woke and stared at the sky, blinking in confusion.

"Did I die? I thought I did…" she said softly, and sat up, only to be tackled by Rin and Bubbles.

"Kay-kay! You're alive!" Rin squealed happily. Kay smiled and hugged the two.

"I guess I didn't die," she thought before looking over and seeing Megumi and Akira. Both were standing together, looking slightly unhappy, but happy at the same time. A bittersweet aura surrounded the couple. "Akira?" she asked, and Akira smiled, coming over to help Kay up and to give her a hug. "What in the world?" Kay was soon answered as she looked over her shoulder and say Kyo crumpled on the ground. "No…" she gasped, and ran over, falling to her knees beside him. "Not again, please not again…" Gently putting his head into her lap after trying to make him comfortable, she tried, and failed, to keep herself from crying. Her tears trailed down her cheeks to drip slowly onto Kyo's chest. Megumi made to step forward to comfort her, but Akira shook her hand, holding him back.

"This is something that Kay needs to bear on her own…" Akira said sadly. "I know it's harsh, but this is the first time that someone who actually loved her has died." Megumi nodded in understanding, but then blinked as he saw Kyo's hands moved. He nudged Akira, and she noticed as well, smiling a bit when she realized what it might mean. Soon, Kyo's eyes opened, but Kay didn't notice.

"Kay, why are you crying?" Kyo asked, his characteristic obliviousness to surroundings making his tone sound far more innocent than the situation intended. Kay gasped, her hands going to her face to rub the tears away. Choking back an angry retort, she instead leaned down and kissed him. He gave her a flustered look, then remembered what had happened. Scrambling up, he knelt in front of her, grabbing her arms gently, trying to make sure that this wasn't a dream. "You're alive!" he said, stating the obvious, as usual. Kay laughed a little, still trying to stop her tears from flowing, these tears of happiness.

"Yeah, I'm alive," she whispered, unable to comprehend what was happening. Kyo seemed to be overjoyed and struggling with something.

"I didn't realize it until you were gone back there…" he said softly, and Kay gave him a confused look. "You faded, right there in my arms, and I realized at that moment that I loved you. I don't know why it took me so long," he added sheepishly, looking into Kay's shocked face.

"You mean it?" she whispered, hesitant to believe that her wildest dreams had come true. Kyo nodded, and then leaned in to kiss her. For an instant, she was too stunned to kiss back, but then she kissed him back with all her heart. A few moments later, both pulled away from each other, flushed. A little bit of laughter and clapping made them instantly aware of their surroundings. Kyo blushed brighter and Kay seemed to go even redder than him, as the other Knights all cheered for them.

"Hey, no need for that," Kyo said, trying to get them to stop. Kay giggled after a few seconds, and just leaned in to kiss him again.

"We're alive and safe, and that's all that matters to me," she said when the kiss broke and Kyo gave her a stunned look. Giggling, she threw her arms around his neck, just happy that everyone was alive and back together in a group again. Kyo smiled and held her close, rather enjoying the fact that he could without her yelling at him.


End file.
